A Bond Unbroken
by Blayzepwa
Summary: Sequel to Flirtin' With Disaster. Dean has to find a way to save his bondmate Castiel from a powerful enemy. Together with Sam, Bobby, and a couple of unlikely allies, Dean will be pushed to the brink, and finds out that some bonds can never be broken.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

 **This is the sequel to Flirtin' With Disaster. Entry into DCBB 2016. This is the Rated M version. For the NC-17 version, please check out my livejournal ( blayzepwa . livejournal . com ) or A03 (author Blayzepwa)**

 **Thank you once again to my beta padaleckhi! You are insanely awesome, and I couldn't have done this without you!**

 **My artist for this year, sedatedkoala, made some GORGEOUS drawings to go along with the story. The cover art, as well as another, viewable on my livejournal. Please take a moment to check it out!**

 **hurt!Dean, hurt!Cas, a bit of hurt!Sam for good measure, and language. Also minor char death**

 _Previously on Flirtin' With Disaster..._

 _Castiel_ _groaned as he weakly pushed himself into a sitting position. Getting forcefully pulled through dimensions was incredibly painful, as he had already learned. This time was no exception._  
 _The first thing he noticed was that he was surrounded by burning holy oil. Great, just great. His powers were effectually rendered useless now._

 _Looking down, the second thing he noticed was that he was not wearing his clothes, just the undergarments that Dean referred to as 'briefs'. The thought of his bond mate pulled him up short. Sitting up straighter,_ _Castiel_ _wildly looked around. There was no sign of Dean anywhere, and Cas was certainly not on the beach anymore, so he had to hope that Dean was unharmed and still there. He had no idea where he himself was though. Not many creatures had the power to forcibly pull an angel of the Lord through space._

 _He concentrated on his bond he had with Dean. No amount of holy oil was powerful enough to overcome the bond between an angel and his mate. He barely felt anything along the bond, although it could be because it was unformalised. He faintly felt traces of Dean though, and that was enough to send his heart fluttering in relief. His bond mate was alive. He didn't know what condition he was in, but he knew he was alive. Right now that was enough._

 _Castiel_ _stood in the circle of holy oil, his back ramrod straight as he waited for whoever took him to make an appearance. He didn't have to wait long. He heard the door on the other side of the room open. He turned towards it, and when he saw who walked through the door, a snarl appeared on his face at the same time his heart sunk._

 _"Hello_ _Castiel," the newcomer's voice said, smug and haughty as ever._

 _"Raphael."_

~*~*SPN~*~*

Castiel could feel a growl building in his throat as he watched the archangel he had formerly respected stride confidently towards him. He narrowed his eyes and took a step towards the flames that separated them. "What do you want, Raphael? And where is Dean?"

Raphael snorted in contempt, an eyebrow raised as he took in Castiel's state of undress. "Don't worry about your precious mud monkey, Castiel. He's alive, for now. But thanks to you, I know where he is, so if you do not co-operate, I cannot ensure he will stay that way."

"If you so much as put a scrat-"

"As for what I want," Raphael continued, not letting Cas finish his sentence, "I think you already know that answer to that, Castiel."

Castiel glared at Raphael. Unfortunately, he was well aware of Raphael's current goals. "Even if I could, I would not retrieve Michael from the cage. This is madness, Raphael! Think about what you are asking! Our Father would not want this!"

"We no longer have a Father, Castiel. You know this just as well as I do. He has gone, disappeared and left us alone. Now it has fallen to me to create paradise."

"You speak blasphemy, Raphael!" Castiel snarled.

Raphael arched an eyebrow. "Do I? How can it be blasphemy if there is no God I wonder? The point remains, Castiel, that you will retrieve our brother from the cage, unless of course you wish me to retrieve Dean Winchester and bring him here? Of course, I cannot guarantee he will arrive in one piece."

Castiel inhaled sharply. "You will not touch him!"

"I could have killed him already, Castiel, but I did not. A…gesture of goodwill, shall we say? But you know what I want, so his life is in your hands. I shall give you a bit of time to mull your decision over." Raphael turned on his heels and stepped back towards the door he had entered from. "I trust you will make the right one."

With the sound of the door shutting, Cas found himself alone once again. His stomach turned as he replayed his conversation with Raphael over in his head. There was no possible way he could do what his older brother wanted, but if he didn't try then Dean was doomed. There was no way his bond mate could take on an archangel.

Castiel groaned as he sunk to his knees. He held his head in his hands in a human-like gesture of despair. Somehow, he would find a way out of this mess. And then he would find Dean and never let him go.

~*~*SPN~*~*

Dean swallowed heavily as he stumbled down the beach. He had been walking for almost an hour with the sun beating down on him. Thirst had begun to make itself known, but all he cared about was finding his angel. He had been praying to Cas non-stop since the angel had vanished on him, but the longer his prayers went unanswered, the more his anguish grew.

He clutched Cas's clothes tighter to his body, as if holding them closer would make the angel suddenly appear. He wasn't one hundred percent certain, but that ear-piercing noise he heard when his angel disappeared sounded an awful like that time he had heard Cas's true voice. He shuddered. Angels having Cas was never a good thing, not these days.

As he walked, he continuously prayed to Cas. He did not know if the angel could hear his prayers or not, but he knew he had to try. He even tried throwing in a prayer to God, although he knew that one would go nowhere. Despite all of Cas's protestations, Dean knew God was nothing but a deadbeat dad -and he would know-, but he was willing to try anything at this point, though.

Dean turned a bend on the beach and cried out softly to himself in relief. In the far distance he thought he could make out people. People meant civilization, and civilization meant phones. He forced his legs to walk faster, cursing as his toe stubbed on a rock that lay hidden in the sand. He needed to get to a phone and contact his brother and Bobby to tell them what happened.

As Dean got closer to the people, he mentally collected himself. He put on an outward appearance of calm and walked steadily towards the small buildings that were just off the beach. They looked like they were part of a resort. He checked his wallet, and breathed a sigh of relief that he had one of his credit cards on him.

Still clutching Castiel's clothes tightly, he ignored the strange look he got from a family of tourists and sauntered up the to the reception desk. Twenty minutes and a lot of convincing that 'his reservation was supposed to be in the system and what kind of service is this anyway,' he was sitting on one of the softest beds he had ever been on. Dean ran his hand over his face and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm his racing heart. He stood up and grabbed a large bottle of water from the mini fridge then gulped it down, feeling the dryness of his throat ease at the cool water. Wiping his mouth with his hand, he chewed on his lower lip and reached for the phone. He needed to talk to Sam.

~*~*SPN~*~*

Sam snatched up the phone from the desk and furrowed his brow as he saw the caller ID. Giving a little shrug, he answered the phone with a distracted, "Yeah?"

"Sam? Oh thank fuck. You gotta help me! He's gone, and I don't know where-"

The tinny voice that came through the phone's speaker startled him because it was the last voice he was expecting. "Dean?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Yeah, Sam, it's me. Cas is gone, and I don't know where he went, and I'm stuck on some island in Australia!"

"Wait, Australia? How the heck did you end up there? I thought you were in the shop! And what happened to Cas?"

"He's…I don't know, Sammy. There was a light, and a sound like an angel, and he…he was gone after that." Dean's voice sounded frayed, as if it were all he could do to keep himself together. Sam had a hard time reconciling that voice with that of his brother.

"An _angel_? You're saying an angel snatched him?"

"Yes! No...I don't know! It sure sounded like one of those dickless fuckwads."

Sam took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his long hair. "All right; we'll find him, Dean." Bobby chose that moment to walk into the room, and upon hearing Sam's side of the conversation, looked at him quizzically. Sam glanced over and pulled the phone away from his mouth a bit. "It's Dean. I guess Cas decided to take him to Australia and then something took _him_." Bobby's eyes widened at that as Sam went back to talking to his brother. "Okay, so where exactly are you?"

~*~*SPN~*~*

Castiel paced along the edge of the burning holy oil ring, fingers running through his hair in agitation. Raphael could not be serious. How could Castiel possibly free Michael? Even if he were to somehow find the cage, he had no clue how to open it! The whole idea was madness, but he knew what his answer would be the second Raphael threatened Dean.

He could hear his bondmate praying to him. It pained Cas that he was unable to answer Dean's prayers. He sounded off, which was unsurprising as Cas felt drained as well. He had heard that it was necessary for new bondmates to spend the first week together, or else the bond would weaken their grace instead of strengthening it. But with Dean being human and therefore not possessing grace, he had no idea what would come of a bond strain. He was startled from his musing by the sound of the door opening.

"Have you made your decision yet, Castiel?" Raphael entered flanked by two other angels, Enrius and Zoriel. Castiel barely knew either of them, although he had served on a mission with them once.

"Raphael, you are asking the impossible. Even if I could find the cage, I am just a seraph. You would be the one out of any of us to be able to open the cage!" Castiel tried one more time to convince his older brother to see reason. When that failed to elicit a sympathetic response in the archangel, Cas turned to the other two. "Zoriel, Enrius, please brothers. He is threatening an angelic bondmate, you know Father would-"

"That is enough, Castiel!" Raphael interrupted. He turned to his two followers and raised an eyebrow. They nodded at him, and Cas knew he would not be able to make them see reason.

Raphael turned back to Cas. "And why would I sully myself in Hell, Castiel? You have already been there, when you pulled out the Righteous Man, your bondmate-. " Raphael paused and sneered, as though the concept disgusted him. "Shall I assume your decision is to forfeit the life of Dean Winchester then? Even with the sigils you put on him, it is only a matter of time until I find him again." He started to turn around, but paused at a choked noise coming from Cas's throat.

From what Raphael said, Cas guessed that Sam and Bobby had been able to retrieve Dean from Australia, and he allowed himself to feel a small sense of relief that was quickly drowned out when Raphael's words sank in. "No! Wait! I will try to do as you have asked, but please, do not harm Dean."

Raphael smiled. "Good choice, brother. Zoriel and Enrius will accompany you to the gate. Do not try to contact your human, Castiel. Just follow your orders like you are supposed to, and you will get back to him soon enough. Unless, of course, you fail." With a flick of his wrist, the burning ring of holy oil vanished, and the two angelic guards immediately flanked Cas. Raphael cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, and you might want to put some clothes on that vessel, Castiel. We wouldn't want the demons to get the wrong idea why you are there, would we?" A flurry of wings, and he was gone.

Castiel closed his eyes. He would just have to find a way to succeed, because one way or another, he was going to get back to Dean. And once Dean was safely back in his arms, he would find a way to bring his older brother to justice. He glanced down at himself and grimaced. Raphael was right about one thing. A twist of his Grace, and his vessel was once more clothed in the familiar fabric of his suit and trench coat.

Zoriel nudged Cas. "Come on, Castiel, you have work to do," he coldly stated, and the three angels took off. They reappeared almost immediately in front of the blackened gate of Hell.

~*~*SPN~*~*

Bobby walked into his study, balancing several bowls in his hands. Sam was kneeling on the ground, putting the finishing touches on the sigils he was drawing on the floor. "This should be everything," he said, handing a bowl to Sam.

Sam stood up, wincing as his knees popped when they straightened. He reached over and took the bowl from Bobby. "Thanks," he said, and stared at the bowl in his hands.

Bobby frowned. "You okay, Sam?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. Just...Do you think he'll help us? I mean, we aren't exactly his favorite people. Especially Dean."

Bobby snorted at that. "Well Sam, you ain't kidding there. But he's helped us out before. And he seems to be Cas's buddy, so I guess we have to take our chances."

The two hunters lit the candles in the quadrants, and with one final look at each other, Sam lit the bowl on fire. The candles and the bowl in the middle flared up briefly, and silence reigned for all of five seconds before an accented voice behind Sam and Bobby loudly proclaimed, "Oh, what the bugger do you two jackoffs want now?"

~*~*SPN~*~*

Dean paced back and forth on the soft burgundy carpet of the room he had gotten for the night. His legs ached from the trek to the hotel, but he paid them no mind. His mind raced as he tried to figure out what had happened, who could have taken Castiel. Unfortunately, the list of creatures that had Cas on their hit list was rather long, and that was just the creatures that Dean was aware of. Just because he thought it might be an angel didn't rule out the possibility of someone like Crowley.

He clenched his hands into fists, wanting desperately to punch something. His eyes kept straying to the phone on the hotel table, as though he could make it ring with the sheer force of his will. As though if it rang Sam and Bobby would tell him they found the answer; that they had found Castiel safe and sound.

"Fuck!" Dean cursed. His throat felt tight as his mind whispered Castiel's name over and over in a litany of song. He wouldn't cry, he was Dean fuckin' Winchester for crying out loud, and Dean fuckin' Winchester does not cry. No matter how much he wants to.

A rustle of wings behind him made him whirl around, hope leaping up into his chest. But the grinning face that met his eyes wasn't that of his angel.

"Balthazar." Dean blinked in surprise. That particular angel was the last one he had expected to see.

The angel arched an eyebrow at him. "Is that any way to greet an old friend, Dean?" Balthazar said sharply. When Dean opened his mouth to reply, he held up a hand. "I know, I know. We aren't _friends_ per se. But I _am_ here to help you, because Castiel? He _is_ my friend, sort of. Either way, I like him. And since you two," Balthazar paused and made a dramatic, lewd motion with his hands. Dean felt his cheeks heat up as Balthazar continued on unabashedly. "Finally admitted what the rest of us already knew, I figured I ought to help."

"Do you know where he is?" Dean wasted no time questioning the angel in front of him. "Who has him? Is he okay?"

"Well, a 'thank-you for offering your help, oh wonderful Balthazar' would be nice." When Dean just glared, Balthazar sighed. "Fine. Be that way. No, I don't know where he is, _but_ I do know who has him. The biggest dick of us all...Raphael! Wait..that didn't come out right."

Dean didn't even notice the angel's slip of the tongue, his mind stuck on the name of the one who took Cas. He stepped back, the backs of his legs hitting the plush mattress as his knees gave out from under him. Dean sat down heavily and closed his eyes.

"Fuck," he cursed under his breath. Rubbing a hand over his face, he looked up at the angel. "And you have no idea where he might have taken Cas? Or why?"

Balthazar grimaced. "I just told you, I don't know where he is. Or why, although I am quite certain I could find out given a bit of time. Let's start by getting you back to that annoying idiot who you call brother, and the funny-looking hunter." With that, he reached out and touched his fingers to Dean's forehead.

~*~*SPN~*~*

Dean lurched forward with a curse as he felt himself land. Looking up, he saw Sam and Bobby's faces staring at him strangely. "What?" he managed to choke out.

"You're...uhh...looking a little green there, son," Bobby commented, hand already reaching towards the trash bin at the side of his desk.

Dean waved him off. "I'm fine, just gimme a minute. Damn Angel Air." He took a deep breath to calm his stomach and straightened. He turned towards Balthazar and glowered at the smug look on the angel's face.

"Sorry for the rough landing there, Dean-o; haven't transported humans in a while. Guess I lost my touch."

"Yeah, Cas is so much better at it than you." The thought of his angel slammed back into Dean what had happened. He whirled and faced his brother. "Sam, Cas...we have to find him, now! Raphael has him, and there's no telling what that motherfucker will do to him if we don't find him soon. Lemme go!"

Sam had put a hand on his brother's shoulder, and gripped harder as Dean went to shrug off. "Dean, we will find him, but you need to stay calm."

"Fuck you, Sam," Dean said, but it was without heat, and he stilled under his brother's hand. He took a deep breath and pulled away from his brother, gently this time. Sam let him go.

"Well, we can't summon Raphael, can we?" Bobby said with a glance in Balthazar's direction. At the angel's shake of the head, he continued, "Dang it. Can we get Cas here instead using a different summoning ritual? We tried the one we used to summon you, but it obviously didn't work."

Balthazar shook his head again and pushed away from where he was leaning against Bobby's desk. "No, there's just the one. Raphael is smart enough to not keep Castiel anywhere you could just poof him back to you," he said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go and see what I can hear through the grapevine, so to speak. Oh, and one more thing: don't call me, I'll call you." In a flap of wings, the angel disappeared.

"Great," sighed Sam. "Back at square one." He sat down heavily on the couch and looked up at Dean. His brother looked pale; his freckles stood out in stark relief on his face. "You okay, Dean?"

"'M fine, just need some air. Gimme a book to research with Bobby. I'm gonna sit out on the porch." He looked at his brother and surrogate uncle. "Alone."

"Sure Dean, try this one. Might have something useful in it anyways." Dean took the book Bobby held out to him and stormed off. The sound of the screen door slamming echoed loudly in the house, causing the remaining two occupants to wince.

Sam stood up to follow his brother, but was stopped short by Bobby's arm across his chest. "Let him be, Sam. That boy asked for some time to get his head back in the game, and damned if you're gonna take that from him."

"He needs me, Bobby. The last thing he needs right now is to be left alone." Sam retorted.

"No, Sam. What he needs is Castiel. And unless you can give him that, at least let him have the dignity to figure out his emotions on his own." Bobby dropped his arm with those words and turned, walking over to his desk. Sitting down, he poured himself a large tumbler of whiskey. He lifted his drink to his mouth and eyed Sam over the rim of the glass, watching the tall hunter sigh and turn away from his brother. Bobby handed off a book from the pile on his desk to Sam's waiting hand, and pulled one down for himself. He set his glass down, opened the book, and began reading. This was gonna be a long night.

~*~SPN~*~

Dean grimaced. The headache that had been growing steadily in his head over the past two hours was getting worse the more he thought about Cas. Unfortunately, his angel was all he was able to think about, so it was like a vicious cycle. The words on the page in front of him seemed to merge into a giant puddle of letters, and he realized he had been staring at the same page for twenty minutes. He slammed the book closed with a growl and rubbed at his temples. How the hell was he supposed to help find Cas when he could hardly think straight?

He continued his litany of prayers to Cas, hoping they were reaching him. Until Cas was back, however, he really had no clue. But he kept them up, because the thought that Cas might still be able to hear him, wherever he was, provided him a modicum of comfort.

A hand closed on his shoulder and he jumped, then tried to cover it up by twisting and standing. "Hey, Sammy, find anything?"

The look in Sam's eyes said he knew he had startled Dean, but he didn't comment on it, for which Dean was grateful. "No, nothing yet. Why don't you come inside? Take a few minutes and get a bite to eat? Bobby made us some sandwiches in the kitchen."

The thought of eating while Cas was being held somewhere by Raphael twisted Dean's stomach into a knot. Any previous thoughts of hunger that he had had vanished. Dean gave his brother a small smile. "Thanks Sam, but I'm not really hungry right now."

"You need to eat, Dean. You aren't gonna do Cas any good if you don't keep up your strength." Sam replied, eyeing Dean worriedly. "At least try to have something. Please?" He gave Dean the puppy dog eyes, knowing his brother couldn't say no to them.

Dean sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Damn headache for making him unable to concentrate, damn Sam for mother-hen routine, and damn Raphael for taking Cas away from him. "Fine," he gave in. "But we're gonna keep looking while we eat." He picked up the book he had been trying to focus on and walked into the house without waiting for his brother.

Sam chewed on his lower lip and ran a hand through his hair. "Jesus, Dean, you gotta start taking care of yourself," he muttered under his breath, before following him into the house.

~*~SPN~*~

"Balthazar."

The angel turned and looked behind him and his eyes widened in surprise. His hand gripped his angel blade tightly. "Enrius," he replied coolly.

"You can put your blade down, brother. I am not here to take you in." Enrius held up his hands in a placating gesture.

"No?" Balthazar questioned without lowering his blade. "Last I heard, you were one of Raphael's little watchdogs. So if you aren't here to 'attempt' to take me in, then why _are_ you here?"

Enrius stepped back, eyeing Balthazar warily. "I am here because of Castiel."

Balthazar flew forward and grabbed the other angel by his shirt collar. He roughly placed the point of his blade under Enrius's vessel's chin. "What do you know about Castiel?" he demanded.

"Easy brother; you kill me and you won't find out anything. I will tell you what I know if you release me."  
Balthazar cocked his head at the other angel. "You've been Raphael's servant for a millennium, Enrius. Why would I believe you would suddenly turn on him?"

"Because he has committed an unthinkable sin, deliberately holding Castiel from his bondmate, Mud Monkey or no. I have followed Raphael for so long because I believed in what he was doing, but this..." Enrius shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "This is wrong. Father would be horrified."

Balthazar let go of Enrius and stepped back. "Well, we can at least agree on one thing," he muttered. "So what does Raphael want with Castiel then? Surely he's not just trying to break up a bond for the fun of it? If he's that bored I can give him some fun tips to pass the time-"

"Castiel is to find the cage and free Michael." Enrius interrupted hurriedly.

Balthazar stopped mid-sentence and stared at the other angel. He scratched his forehead. "I'm sorry, I thought you said that Raphael wants Castiel to find the cage and free Michael." After a long pause in which Enrius looked perplexed at not being understood, Balthazar nodded to himself. "You did say that then. Well, this isn't good. How does Raphael expect a Seraph to get to the cage and free Michael and not Lucifer?"

Enrius shrugged. "I do not know, but I must get back before Raphael notices I am gone." He vanished in a flurry of wings, and left Balthazar standing alone.

The angel stared at where Enrius had been a moment before, and then put his blade away with a sigh. "Well, that's not good," he groaned before he, too, spread his wings and flew off.

~*~*~SPN~*~*~

Sam and Bobby watched Dean as he sat in the corner of the room with worried eyes. As the day drew into night, he seemed to grow even paler and his eyes took on a listlessness that was unsettling. Bobby tapped Sam on the shoulder and motioned with a flick of his head to follow him outside. Dean never looked up from his book.

When they made it out onto the deck, Bobby turned to Sam. "This is worse than I thought, Sam. It's almost like he's getting sick." He scrubbed his hand over his beard. "You said him an' Cas bonded?" At Sam's nod, Bobby sighed. "Well, I'm gonna look and see if I have anything at all on angelic bonding, see if I can figure out why that boy looks like death warmed over."

"Yeah, something's up. This goes beyond simple pining, even for Dean and his massive self-depreciating guilt trips," Sam agreed as he ran a hand through his hair. He glanced back through the window, and frowned as he saw Dean pinching the bridge of his nose. Shaking his head, he turned back to Bobby. "I think my head's starting to ache in sympathy for him," he said with a grimace.

Bobby raised an eyebrow. "You okay, Sam?"

The younger hunter nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. If it gets any worse, I'll take an ibuprofen."

"Maybe you should try to get your brother to take something."

Sam snorted. "It's Dean. He won't even admit anything's bothering him. He has to practically be on his deathbed to take any kind of medication." He looked back towards his brother and started at the sight that greeted him. "Balthazar!"

The two hunters ran back into the house, and found Dean staring up at the angel, eyes large and mouth slightly agape. Dean flicked his eyes over to them, before looking back at Balthazar. "The cage?" he murmured, trailing off as Balthazar nodded.

Sam paled at hearing Dean's words, and he felt Bobby grab his arm as the world tilted on itself.

"Woah, easy there, son." Bobby guided Sam over to a chair, as Dean and Balthazar looked over.

"Sam!" Dean stood and hurried over to his brother.

"I'm alright," Sam said with a grimace and held up his hand. "Just...caught me off guard there. What did you say about the." He stopped and swallowed heavily before continuing, "the cage?"

Balthazar eyeballed Sam before he stepped forward. "I was just telling Dean that Raphael is planning to use Castiel to free Michael from Lucifer's cage."

"What?" Bobby cried.

Dean closed his eyes and clenched his fists at his side. "He's going to send Cas back into Hell. Raphael is too much of a fucking chicken shit to do anything himself, so instead he's sending my angel to do his dirty work for him. Sonuvabitch!"

Sam looked between his brother and the angel. "Cas wouldn't do that. There's no way he would do it!"

Balthazar cleared his throat. "Actually, there is a way he would do it. Raphael threatened Dean's life, and Cas agreed to try, apparently," he pointed out helpfully.

Dean stared at Balthazar. "No," he whispered. He shook his head in denial. "No. He can't- he can't do that! Not for me."

"Well, he did. Or have you forgotten he took you as his bondmate, and therefore will do anything to protect you?"

"I-" Dean suddenly gasped and clutched at his temple as a sharp pain lanced through his skull. He felt something wet run down his face, but he was too busy fighting back a cry of pain to do anything about it. Despite his best efforts, a low groan escaped his throat as another lightning bolt of agony shot through him. The edges of his vision darkened and rather than fight it, Dean let his eyes fall shut as he sank back down into the chair.

"Dean? What's wrong?" Sam stood up at the same time Bobby moved towards Dean. "Oh God, you're bleeding." He grabbed a handful of Kleenex and pressed it against his brother's nose, growing more worried when his brother didn't even attempt to shrug him off.

"Damn," Balthazar said grimly. "I thought we would have more time."

Bobby whirled on the angel. "More time? What the hell are you talking about? Do you know what's wrong with him?" The hunter pointed an agitated finger in Dean's direction.

Balthazar nodded. "It's called bond strain. When angels bond, it's important they spend their time together, so their Grace can connect; if they don't, it weakens them. Obviously Dean has no Grace, but he is still being affected by the bond strain."

Sam stood up from where he had been crouched down helping his brother, still holding the reddened Kleenex to Dean's nose. Dean seemed barely conscious now, his green eyes were barely opened to slits. "So what did you mean by more time?"

The angel shrugged. "Well, I could be wrong here, but I'm guessing that the sudden increase in his symptoms means that Castiel is no longer on this plane of existence." At the startled looks he received, Balthazar rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. Do I have to spell it out for you? What that _means_ , kiddos, is that Raphael must have decided to start the show, and Castiel is now in Hell."

Dean moaned weakly, and Sam put his hand on his brother's shoulder in a gesture of comfort. "So, what? He's going to get worse then?"

"Eventually, yes. Unless they are reunited soon. But once the shock of Cas being on a different plane wears off, he should stabilize. It's Castiel I am worried about right now. He's in Hell, and the bond strain will be affecting him too. Raphael really didn't think this through if he thought a bond strained angel will be able to open the cage without help," he finished with another roll of his eyes.

"Is there anything you can do to help? Any healing you can do?"

Balthazar snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "The only thing that can help _him_ is currently down in Hell. Give him some time, like I already told you if you were even listening is that he should recover somewhat when the shock wears off. And seeing as there's nothing more I can do here, I can see myself out." With that, he was gone, leaving the three hunters alone in Bobby's living room.

"Balls."

~*~*SPN*~*~

Castiel snarled as he pushed himself to his feet, touching his hand to his lips and glancing at the blood that stained his fingertips crimson. He had not been at all prepared for the wave of intense pain and dizziness that had assaulted him when he landed in Hell, and the demon that had been standing where he landed took full advantage of that fact.

She chuckled joyfully. "An angel of the Lord, all by himself down here in Hell. What a surprise!" She threw her hair over her shoulder and smirked at him. "What are you doing here, silly angel?"

The angel glared, knees still feeling weak as they held him up. "Tell me where the cage is and maybe I won't kill you where you stand."

Her eyes widened briefly and flicked to the right. Castiel allowed himself an inward smile at the give. "The cage? Why would you want to know that, darling? Want to lock yourself in it and give your big brothers something new to play with?" She wound up and threw her fist into Castiel's face.

His head snapped to the side, and he stumbled back a step before he was able to bury the pain and draw his angel blade. Gritting his teeth, he straightened and met the demon's next attack with one of his own. His blade slashed towards her throat, and as she leaned back to avoid the attack, he swept his leg out and caught her behind the knee, knocking her to her back on the ground.

Castiel's blade slammed down into her chest, and her eyes grew wide as lightning danced along her corpse. "I don't have time for you," he growled. He stood up and looked around. No other demons appeared, but he wasn't going to take a chance. He dragged the demon's corpse into a darkened corner.

He took a moment to calm down. He had never experienced such a surge of pain like that when he landed in Hell, not even being pulled through dimensions or even when he was smote by an archangel. Everything hurt. His wings felt as though they were on fire, and he glanced at them to be certain they weren't. This _was_ Hell, after all. The land of fire and brimstone.

Castiel stood there with his jaw clenched, trying to figure out what happened, why he felt like that upon landing. He had been in Hell before, and it hadn't felt like this, back when he pulled his human from his eternal damnation. The thought made him pause, and then he paled as realization set in. "Dean," he whispered. It was the bond causing this! If he had felt that, what would his bondmate be feeling?

The angel focused inwards, to his Grace level where he could feel the bond. It was weak, and was unable to feel anything from Dean. A momentary wave of panic hit him before he thought that perhaps he couldn't feel anything was because the bond was too new to work across dimensions. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and pushed his love and devotion through the bond towards his human. He was not certain if Dean would feel it, but he felt his own self slightly comforted from the touch of the bond, and he drew strength from that.

Coming back to himself, Castiel held his blade at the ready. The next demon to come upon him would not catch him so unaware.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Sam let out a huge sigh as he covered his brother with a blanket. Dean's nose had stopped bleeding shortly after he fell unconscious, and Sam had carried him upstairs to the bedroom the two of them always shared whenever they stayed at Bobby's. Wincing at the creak his knees gave as he stood up, he went into the bathroom and filled a bowl with water. He grabbed a washcloth on his way back into the bedroom and, settling himself beside his brother on the bed, he gently started wiping the dried trail of blood off of Dean's lax face.

"Come on back, big brother," Sam whispered. He finished wiping away the blood and set the wash basin on the bedside table just as he heard Bobby come into the bedroom. "Why does this stuff always happen to us? To him?" he asked quietly without taking his eyes off of Dean's face. He ran a hand through his brother's soft hair. Dean would never allow such an open display of affection while he was awake, so Sam took advantage of the fact that he wasn't to allow himself his own comfort.

"Comes with the territory, Sam," Bobby said. "'Sides, you two seem to attract bad luck. Makes me glad I'm not a Winchester." He crossed the room to stand beside Sam.

The corner of Sam's mouth raised up in a small smile. "Yeah, it does seem like we're magnets for all things unlucky sometimes, huh?"

Bobby let out a snort at that, but didn't reply. Instead he moved and sat down on the chair on the other side of the bed. The two men sat in silence for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts.

Bobby pulled off his cap and scratched at his head. He cleared his throat and Sam looked up at him. "I've got a lead on a book that might have some info on this bonding thing," he said.

Sam raised an eyebrow at him. "There's actually a book on it?" he asked, disbelief coloring his voice.

Bobby raised one shoulder in a shrug. "Well, there's at least one. Got a hold of a friend of mine who specializes in rituals. Thought it might be worth a shot."

"That's good news then. The more we know the better prepared we'll be when we get Cas out." He moved his hand from Dean's head down to grasp his hand. "So where's this friend of yours?"

"Not far. 'Bout an hour away. I'm gonna leave now, you gonna be all right lookin' after him for a bit?" Bobby replied, gesturing at Dean with the hat in his hand.

Sam smiled softly. "He's been looking after me his whole life. I can watch over him this time."

~*~*SPN*~*~

Castiel stumbled, catching himself on an outcropping of stone. Although he had been trying to keep to the shadows, several nearby demons had been able to sense his presence in the Pit. He had managed to take them all out, but not without sustaining damage. The bond strain had made him weaker than he had anticipated, and it showed in several places that steadily dripped blood from where the demons had been able to slash underneath his defenses.

Sensing no demons nearby for the moment, he paused for a moment to regroup. His wings continued to ache, and they had been growing heavier the deeper into Hell he went, and thus the farther from Dean, he progressed. He was grateful for the fact that the time difference between Hell and the real world that affected the disembodied souls did not affect angels.

Castiel stared at the path ahead of him as it curved sharply to the right. He hoped he was on the right track to the cage, but all he had to go on was that first demon's tell. This level of Hell was full of treacherous terrain. Jagged rocks jutted out from every angle, like claws attempting to escape the ground. Fire burned red on one side of the trail, casting a reddish glow over everything.

He pushed himself forward, blue eyes constantly scanning for danger. He reached up a hand to swipe at some blood that had dripped into his eye from a gash across his forehead. He had been distracted thinking about Dean and a demon had gotten the jump on him. It had slammed Castiel's head into a rock before he managed to stab it through it's neck with his angel blade. He didn't know if it was due to being in Hell or yet another side effect of the bond strain, but Castiel seemed unable to heal his wounds.

As he turned to head back the way he came, Castiel was thinking only of Dean how to finish the seemingly impossible task Raphael had set before him. He knew that when he got out of Hell, when he knew Dean was safe, he would find a way to ensure that Raphael never could threaten Dean again. The ache that arose in him then had nothing to do with the bond strain. Castiel knew he was seriously contemplating something that went against every angelic instinct he had, and a small part of him grieved that he had been brought to this. But he would find a way, and he would do it. For Dean. Because in the end, he knew he would always choose Dean.

~*~*SPN*~*~

"Sam, I mean it. I'm fine!" Dean growled as he pushed himself off the bed.

Sam clenched his jaw. "Dean, you've been unconscious for three hours. You are not fine! The shock might have worn off but I can still see plain as day that you're not okay. Just, please stop with the pretending." He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at his sibling. "At least take some meds to help with the headache that I know you have."

Dean rolled his eyes. God, he hated it when his brother treated him like an invalid. "Whatever. At least let me take a piss, first, _Samantha_." He pushed past Sam and headed towards the bathroom. As soon as the door closed and he was alone, Dean let the weakness he was still feeling show.

He sat down heavily on the toilet and scrubbed his hands down his face. When Sam had explained why he had fallen unconscious, and that Cas would also be feeling the effects down in Hell, Dean had felt his heart seize up in his chest. "Cas, man, I need you to be okay," he whispered. "I don't know if you can hear me down there, but if you can you need to get back here. Don't open the cage, Cas. Not for me."

He sat there for a few more minutes thinking about Cas and how to help him, if that was even possible, when Sam knocked quietly on the door.

"Dean? You okay in there?"

As Dean glanced towards the door, his previous frustration at Sam ebbed away, and he sighed. "Yeah, man. I'll be out in a minute." He heard Sam's footprints hesitate before receding, and stood up to splash some water on his face. As he did so, his gaze fell on his reflection in the mirror. His face was pale, and his freckles stood out in stark relief, which made him grimace - he hated his freckles - along with the dark circles under his eyes that gave him a bruised look. All in all, he looked like crap.

He drew his eyes away from his reflection, and gave himself a mental shake. He had to get himself back in the game if he was going to help Cas. He finished taking care of his business, and headed downstairs, where his brother was waiting for him with a glass of water and a couple of white pills.

"Just fast-acting painkillers, Dean. They won't make you loopy or drowsy, I promise," Sam said, as he dropped the pills into Dean's hand and held out the glass.

He nodded his thanks and gave Sam a small smile. He swallowed the pills dry, ignoring the water and Sam's accompanying eye roll. "So, we get any closer to figuring out how to help Cas?" he asked hopefully.

Sam shook his head. "Sorry, Dean." He followed his brother into the kitchen and watched him as he poured a steaming cup of coffee. "Water would be bett-"

"Shut up, Sam," Dean said, but without rancor. He took a sip and grimaced at the strength of it. He liked his coffee strong, but Bobby took it to a whole new level. He turned and faced Sam, leaning heavily against the sink. "So we're still at square one then, huh?" Sam didn't reply, just nodded his head. Dean chewed his lower lip, and glanced around. "Where's Bobby?"

"Out in the yard somewhere. Said he needed some fresh air to think." Sam walked over and helped himself to a mug of coffee. He pulled a carton of milk from Bobby's fridge and sniffed it, then shrugged and poured it into his cup. He sat down at the kitchen table and looked at Dean. "So, is it like... I mean, can you, uhh," He cleared his throat at Dean's raised eyebrow. "Can you feel Cas? Like, through this bond?"

Dean set his coffee down, gripped the edge of the counter in his hands and eyed his brother. "That's sorta private, Sam," he muttered.

"No, yeah, I mean, I know that. I was just wondering, is all." Sam flicked his eyes back down to the coffee in his hands and fiddled with the handle.

An awkward silence fell over them. Dean sighed inwardly. His headache was pounding a steady beat behind his eyes, not as severe as earlier, but still there. The pills had done nothing, as he knew they would. He had only taken them to appease Sam. He looked at his brother and sighed again, this time out loud. Sam looked up at him hopefully.

"I could at first, kind of. At least, a sense of him." Dean trailed off, his eyes went distant as he tried to feel the bond, to feel Cas. When he couldn't feel anything, he came back to himself and shook his head sadly. "Now there's just...nothing." He sniffed, and didn't look at his brother as he pushed himself off the counter and left the room without another word.

Sam was left staring at his brother's still steaming mug of coffee, contemplating what he had just heard.

~*~*SPN*~*~

Dean stared blankly at the wall in his and Sam's bedroom. Rather, it would appear to anyone who walked in that Dean was staring blankly at the wall. In reality, he was desperately trying to contact his angel along the bond the two of them shared. Only when he was behind closed doors, away from Sam and Bobby's prying eyes, was he able to let his mask drop. He couldn't let the two of them see how much this was affecting him.

After he was unable to feel Cas's familiar essence, he closed his eyes with a helpless sigh. "Dammit," he growled to himself. "I'm gonna shove my angel blade so far up Raphael's ass the next time I see him it'll come out his fucking nose!" He angrily pounded his fists into the sheet beneath him. "Fuck!"

The thought of Cas once again in Hell, and once again to save _his_ sorry ass, made a shudder go down Dean's spine. Memories of his own time spent in Hell tried to rise to the surface, but he pushed them down forcefully. Now was _not_ the time. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and rested his elbows on his knees. He sat for a few minutes, raising a hand up to knead at the tension in the back of his neck. There had to be some way he could help Cas. Some way...

A thought struck him and he shot up from the bed.

~*~*SPN*~*~

When Bobby walked into his kitchen an hour later, a large leather bound book carried under one arm, Sam was still sitting in the same position he had been when Dean left the kitchen. He didn't look up when he walked in.

Bobby paused and watched Sam for a moment, before heading over to the fridge and pulling out a beer. The sound of the bottle opening seemed to startle Sam out of his thoughts.

He turned to Bobby and glanced at the bottle in his hand. "A little early to start hitting the booze, wouldn't you say, Bobby?" he said with a raised eyebrow and a small smirk.

"It's my house, boy. I'll drink whenever I damn well feel like it." He took a long pull from the bottle and went over to sit at the table. "Sleeping Beauty wake up yet?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah. He seems to be feeling better, I guess."

Bobby scratched at his beard and took another swig. "I'm sensing a 'but' in there."

A shrug. "I don't know. His nose isn't bleeding and he's awake, so, better, ya know? But I don't think he'll be okay until we find a way to get Cas back." Sam paused before chuckling softly. "I still can't believe they finally admitted their feelings for each other. Dean especially. You know how he is about anything to do with emotion."

"Yep. I do. Where'd he get off to, anyway?"

"Probably looking in your books for a way to help Cas," Sam sighed. "That's my guess, at least. He went into your study then back upstairs about an hour ago." He stood up and stretched, wincing at the popping of his spine. He headed over to the coffee pot to refill his cup. "Want one?" he asked with a glance over to Bobby.

"Nah, I'm good with my brew."

"So were you able to find out anything on angelic bondings?" Sam asked quietly, glancing at the book on the table as he sat back down in his seat.

Bobby pulled his cap off and scratched his head. "Nothin' terribly useful." He waved at the book in front of him. "This one here is the one that Tom had, and it has a damn sight more than any of mine, but still didn't really have diddly squat that's useful to us at the moment. Near as I could find, it's never even happened between an angel and a human. 'Course, leave it to that brother o' yours to do things differently." Sam's head bobbed in agreement. "I guess there's some sort of ritual involved, but it didn't go into detail. Just gotta wait and see, I guess. 'Course, first we gotta get that angel o' Dean's outta Hell."

There was a pregnant pause as both hunters stared into their drinks. Finally, Sam raised his eyes and looked over at Bobby. "So, typical day for us, huh?"

Bobby grinned ruefully and nodded. "Yup, pretty much." He sat up straighter before flipping the book open and finding a page. He turned it towards Sam and tapped it with his finger. "Oh, I should mention there was some mention of this bond strain, though. Guess their Grace will weaken and essentially cause a helluva lotta problems until they're reunited and complete the ritual. Again, that's between two angels, and last I checked, your brother was still human."

Sam was quiet for a moment as he scanned the page Bobby had shown him. A frown creased his forehead as he read. When he finished he looked back up at Bobby. "This isn't good. One thing I don't get though. Dean doesn't _have_ any Grace, and this is still affecting him somehow. So what could be changing in him?"

Bobby opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted as Dean burst into the kitchen. "I've got it!" he cried. "We call Crowley!" He looked between his brother and Bobby excitedly.

The two hunters stared open-mouthed at Dean. Sam blinked owlishly at his brother, but Bobby recovered quickly. "Well, I'm glad to see you're feeling better. Secondly, what do you mean, call Crowley, ya idjit! Just call up the King of _Hell_ and expect him to play nice?"

"Yeah, Bobby, that's _exactly_ what I mean."

Bobby just raised an eyebrow at him.

Dean glowered at Bobby. "He helped us before. He wants Lucifer to stay in the cage just as much as we do." He glanced at Sam, searching for his brother's support. Sam was biting at his lip, looking as nervous as he always did at the mention of Lucifer and the cage. Dean felt a brief pang of remorse for bringing it up in front of Sam, but it was quickly drowned by the need to get to Castiel. Sam was strong, and Dean was certain the memories would stay buried. Besides, Dean was not going to let Sam anywhere near the cage. This was his plan, and he would see it through himself. "Sammy?" he questioned.

Sam let out a deep breath. "I get what you're saying, Dean, I do." Now it was Bobby's turn to glare, but Sam held up his hand. "But what's your plan here? I mean, are just expecting to call Crowley up and just politely ask for his help?" Dean opened up his mouth to reply but Sam kept talking. "And say he does agree to help, who's to say he doesn't turn around and stab us, or Cas, in the back?"

Dean felt his shoulders deflate a little at Sam's reluctance. But there was no denying in his mind that this was his best shot, at helping, at _retrieving_ his angel. "I'm not saying we blindly trust him. I know he's a demon, Sam, and a complete asshole to boot. But what other choice do we have here? Bobby's books don't have anything, and it's not like we can just call up Raphael and ask him nicely to please change his mind and fetch Cas back." He pinched the bridge of his nose and turned away from Sam and Bobby.

"Dean?" Sam stood up and moved towards his brother. "You still feeling sick?" he asked worriedly.

Dean waved a hand back at them without turning around. "'M fine, just still got a bit of a headache, that's all."

"Do you need-"

"I said I'm _fine_ , Sam." He swallowed heavily then turned around and looked at his brother and Bobby. "Look, I'm gonna contact Crowley. If you guys aren't on board, then I'll just have to do it alone." He shook his head and started to walk away. Truth be told, a part of him was relieved that he would be on his own for this. The last thing he wanted to do was put either Sam or Bobby in danger. Still, he knew that Bobby and Sam were both smarter than he was. And he was okay with being the muscle, but having their brains on board would have been a good thing, too.

Bobby and Sam looked from Dean to one another. Finally, Sam sighed. "Fine, Dean. But if you're going to do this, you gotta be honest with us."

Dean turned and looked at Sam, eyebrow quirked up. "Huh?"

"He's talkin' about your health, Dean." Bobby piped up from his spot at the table. When Dean's green eyes turned to him, Bobby continued. "This bond thing you got goin' with that angel of yours can cause a lot of issues if we don't get you two lovebirds back together soon." He jabbed a finger at the book on the table, ignoring Dean's glare. "Now I don't know how it'll affect you 'cause you're human, but I do know it already _has_. And if you're gonna cozy up to the King of Hell, you need to let me and Sam know when you aren't feeling one hundred percent," he finished sternly. When Dean opened his mouth to reply, a snarky look on his face, Bobby slammed his hand down, startling both Winchesters. "This ain't up for discussion, boy! Understand what I'm sayin'?"

Dean's mouth snapped shut, and he instinctively straightened his shoulders at Bobby's tone, eerily reminiscent of John Winchester. "Yes, sir," he replied automatically.

Bobby sat back, seemingly satisfied. "Now, before we go callin' up demons, how do you feel?"

Green eyes flicked between Sam and Bobby, as Dean shifted uncomfortably. He hesitated, before slumping defeated with a sigh. "Head's pounding. Feel sorta..." he paused, searching for the right word, "stretched out, I guess." He shrugged. "But I'm fine, really. I feel better than I did earlier. And once I get Cas back, I'll be even _better,_ " he added helpfully.

Bobby nodded, as though Dean had confirmed something he already knew. Sam raised his hand to his mouth and started chewing on a fingernail, a surefire sign since he was a kid that he was worried. Dean hated when Sam did that, and he stepped over to his brother and swatted his hand down. Dean felt horrible for being the cause of Sam's worry, and it seemed to be happening more and more lately. He swallowed down his guilt with a promise to make it up to his brother later.

He pulled out his phone, and when neither Sam nor Bobby made any move to stop him, he flipped it open and scrolled down to Crowley's name. He took a deep breath and hit send, before bringing the phone up to his ear.

After a couple rings, the sound of the call connecting reached his ears, followed by a smarmy voice. "Squirrel. To what do I owe this dubious honor? Start any apocalypses lately?"

Dean grit his teeth. The reply he wanted to make burned like acid on his tongue, but he held himself in check. He needed Crowley at the moment, and pissing off the King of Hell when his angel was trapped down in the Pit didn't seem smart. "Hello to you too, Crowley," he bit off. "We need to talk."

~*~SPN~*~

The three hunters stood in a half circle in the woods near Bobby's house, facing the lone figure wearing a black suit. Sam and Bobby each held a shotgun filled with rock salt and a flask of holy water, while Dean clenched Ruby's demon killing knife in his grip.

Crowley spread his hand out to his sides in a non-threatening gesture and smirked. "Quite the welcome party you know how to throw there, Dean," he said with a smirk. "Might I remind you that you asked to meet _me_?"

Dean sent back a smirk of his own. "Oh, I haven't forgotten Crowley. I also remember that you're a fuckin' demon who wouldn't mind seeing us dead."

"Touché," Crowley replied. "And now that the niceties are out of the way, what was so important you felt you needed my help for?"

"Raphael is trying to open the cage, and he's using Cas to do it."

Crowley's eyebrows shot up. "Not beating around the bush then, I see. That's what I always liked about you, Dean. You're brash and to the point."

Dean glowered in the demon's direction. "Stuff it, Crowley, you've never liked me."

A shrug. "Fair enough. I'm not gonna deny that point. Now, what exactly do you want?"

Dean took a deep breath to calm himself. He felt Sam and Bobby step up beside him in a show of support, and he felt a swell of gratitude towards them. He would do whatever it took to get Cas back, but knowing he had Sam and Bobby at his back helped ease some of the agony he felt every time he thought of his angel in the Pit. "I want you to get Cas out of Hell." Before Crowley could open his mouth to reply, Dean hurriedly pointed out, "You stand to lose just as much if Lucifer gets out, so it's in your best interest here too, ya know."

Crowley tilted his head, the gesture reminding Dean uncomfortably of Cas. He didn't say anything for a long moment, just stared at Dean, lips pursed thoughtfully. The hunter shifted uneasily under the scrutiny. Damn, but his head had already been pounding, now the ache seemed to grow with the intensity of Crowley's gaze. It felt like he was trying to see into Dean, and even though he knew the demon couldn't read his mind, the strength of it caused the pounding in his head to reach new levels.

"Can you do it or not, Crowley?" Sam piped up from beside his brother, having noticed Dean's discomfort, and trying to draw the demon's attention from his brother.

Crowley's eyes flicked to Sam, before returning to stare at Dean. "Sure I can, Moose," he drawled. "But, it'll cost ya. An eye for an eye, so to speak. A 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' sort of deal, hey?" He leaned towards Dean and inhaled deeply.

"What the fuck are you doin'?" Dean leaned back, a disgusted look on his face.

Crowley suddenly grinned, a chuckle escaping his throat. "Well, that's certainly not unexpected," he chortled. At the confused looks sent his way, he gestured towards Dean with one hand. "You reek of angel. I can smell your boyfriend all over you." Dean's cheeks flushed. "I can get your loverboy back for you, but like I said, there's something I want you to get for me."

Sam sighed. "The fact that the cage would stay closed isn't enough?" Crowley shook his head with a smirk. "Well, then what do you want, Crowley?"

Crowley scratched his chin with one hand. "There's a ring currently on display at the Field Museum of Natural History. A Ring of Ammit. Damn placed is warded up the wazoo against demons, thanks to a few hunters some years back. I need you to get it for me. Do that and I'll make sure you get your 'lovers reunion'."

"Ammit?" Bobby spoke up for the first time. "She's the Egyptian Devourer of the Dead. What's this ring do, then?"

"There's bit of a 'soul shortage' crisis in Hell." Crowley shrugged. "The ring will help that out. Pulls the souls of the damned from the Void and sends them down to me, where they should be."

Sam snorted. "Thereby making more demons and making Hell more powerful, right?"

"Spot on, Moose. That's why they say you're the brains of the family!"

Dean said nothing, jaw clenched and eyebrows furrowed. He didn't want to see something like this in Crowley's hands, but he didn't really see any other choice. The King of Hell was his best shot at getting Cas back and ensuring Raphael didn't start another apocalypse. Surely when Cas was back safe and sound they could all figure out a way to stop Crowley together? He just needed to play along with the demon until Cas was back. He reached a decision and stepped forward, but was halted by a hand on his arm. He looked over and saw his brother's face set into hard lines.

Sam spun him around. He shot a glare in Crowley's direction. "Give us a minute, Crowley," he snapped.

Crowley just raised an eyebrow. "Tick tock," he said sarcastically. Bobby raised his gun and trained it on him with a snarled, "Shut-it".

Sam pulled his brother away toward the tree line, stopping when he felt they were out of hearing range. He dropped his hand from Dean's arm and whirled on him. "Dean, you can't seriously be considering this," he hissed.

"Sam, I-" Dean started quietly, before Sam interrupted him.

"No, you need to really think of the ramifications here, Dean! If Crowley gets his hands on something like that, there's no telling what-"

This time it was Dean who interrupted. "I _know,_ Sam!" he shouted, not caring if Crowley or Bobby heard. He raised his hands and pushed his brother in the chest. Hard. Sam's eyes widened and he staggered back with the force of the push, not expecting it at all. Dean advanced a step forward. "I know, okay?" His voice quieted, and he ran a hand over his mouth. Sam watched him warily, but refrained from saying anything else, choosing instead to let Dean continue. "And if this goes sideways, it'll be on me. But it's _Cas_. And I can't- I don't-" Dean's breath hitched, and for a moment, just a moment, Dean's defenses came down, and Sam got a glimpse of how much Cas's disappearance was affecting his brother, before the wall slammed back up and Dean's eyes hardened. "I'm doing this, Sam. I'll deal with the consequences later, but right now? I'm gonna go get my angel back."

He spun on his heels and marched back towards where Bobby stood watch over Crowley. He strode past Bobby, gripping the demon killing knife tightly as he went.

Crowley crossed his arms and smirked at Dean as he came closer. "Is it a deal, then?"

Dean raised a finger and jabbed Crowley in the chest. "I want your word nothing will happen to Cas, Crowley. If anything happens to him, I will never stop hunting you. And when I find you, I will jab this," he paused and brought the knife up to Crowley's face, the tip resting right under the demon's eye, "so far up your ass every demon in Hell will feel it."

Crowley's eyes flicked down to the knife and back up to Dean's face, but he didn't back away. "I'm a demon of my word, Dean. Crossroads, remember? I'll get your angel for you, as long as you get what I want."

Dean lowered the knife and stepped back a step, sheathing it was he did. A quick glance behind him showed Sam and Bobby watching him. Neither looked pleased with what he was about to do, but they didn't move to stop him again either. For that, he was grateful. This was something he had to do. Taking a deep breath, he looked at the demon in front of him. "Deal." When Crowley took a step towards him, Dean's eyes widened and he held up a hand to stop him. "Woah, what do you think you're doing?"

Crowley paused before leering at Dean. "Sealing the deal," he said, and stepped forward again.

Dean heard both Sam and Bobby choke down laughter behind him despite the tension in the air. "No way! This ain't a Crossroads deal, Crowley. You are getting nowhere near my lips!"

The demon sighed dramatically. "Fine, you'd probably taste like angel anyways." He held up his hand, fingers poised to snap. "We'll be in touch." A wink, and then he was gone. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Castiel was running, every so often stopping to stab a demon that got too close with his angel blade. It seemed to be a never ending battle. When one demon fell, two more seemed to pop up in it's place. He dashed around a turn, only to pull up short when he realized he had just ran into a trap.

Demons now surrounded him on both sides, some in meat suits and others in their demonic forms. He had no choice but to stay and fight. He darted forward, lashing into the nearest demon, who went down with a cry. Castiel spun, blade whirling as he did so, catching two more demons as they tried to grab him. A claw-like hand wrapped around his shoulder, and without even looking Castiel's hand flew out and poured Grace into the demonic presence that dared touch him, ignoring the light that flared up and moving to meet his next opponent.

He was surprised when another group of demons waded into the fray and started attacking the other demons. One demon, a female, grabbed another that was trying to sneak up on Castiel from the side and rammed her hand through his throat, spraying Castiel with blood. He glanced down at himself in surprise.

That moment of distraction cost him. Suddenly he was rammed into from the side, and his feet flew out from underneath him. Castiel howled as his one wing landed in the burning flames that bordered the path. He arched his back and cried out, as pain unlike anything he had ever experienced flared up. He felt a hand grasp his shoulder and pull him out of the flames, but his mind was too locked into the agony to pay it any attention.

Dimly he heard a familiar voice shouting something as he was quickly hoisted up onto a set of shoulders. The movement caused his burnt wings to shift and he moaned out loud. He weakly tried to push himself off, but he could not. He could feel his Grace seeping out of the wounds in his wings. Never in all his millennia since being created had he felt torture like this. Castiel finally gave up his hold on consciousness.

~*~*SPN~*~*

Dean jolted awake with a gasp, immediately looking behind him to where he still felt phantom pain in appendages that weren't there, had never _been_ there. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm his frayed nerves. _Just a dream_ , he thought to himself. Or rather, a nightmare. There was no way he would let himself think otherwise; the thought that that might be happening to Cas was too horrible to grasp. He covered his face with his hands, horrified to feel a trace of tears leaking out from behind his closed eyes. "Fuck," he muttered to himself, his voice rough.

"Dean?" Sam asked quietly from across the room. "You okay, man?"

Dean started at Sam's voice, and quickly scrubbed his hands over his face to get rid of any remaining tear tracks before turning to his brother. Sam was staring at him over his laptop, concern written all over his face. Dean quickly glanced around for Bobby before remembering he had gone to bed several hours ago. Fuck, how long had he been sleeping? Dean shuddered and squeezed his eyes shut again at the lingering memory of the dream.

"Dean?" Sam prodded again, putting his laptop down and slowly standing to make his way over to Dean. When Dean still didn't answer, Sam cautiously reached out a hand and placed it on Dean's shoulder. At Dean's start, he quickly pulled back, knowing how Dean reacted to unexpected touches.

"'M fine, Sammy. Just a whopper of a nightmare," Dean said, scrubbing his face with his hands. He rolled his shoulders back, still unable to rid himself of the twinges of burning pain. He looked up at his brother and sniffed. "How long have I been asleep?"

"A couple hours. I was gonna wake you, but you looked like you needed it, especially if we are gonna pull off this thing for Crowley," Sam replied. He shot Dean another worried glance before stepping back to his laptop. "I was able to pull up some info on the museum. And guess what?" Sam paused and grinned at his brother. "We're in luck. The Egyptian portion is undergoing renovations. All of the artifacts are in storage until they finish in two months."

"Well, ain't that a mother fucking quinkydink," Dean snapped. Sam stared at him, and he grimaced inwardly. Sam didn't deserve that, but his back was still burning and worry for Cas was making him lash out. "Sorry," he sniffed.

"'S okay," Sam replied quietly, before shifting in his chair. "Uh, like I was saying, the artifacts are being held in the museum's storage area, which is in a separate building attached to the museum itself."

"So a simple B&E, then?" Dean asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, I don't know as I'd call it _simple,_ Dean. There's still gonna be security measures to get past. Plus, whatever they have for guards. Bobby said he'd figure out the security for us while we're on the road."

"Speaking of, shouldn't we be hitting it?" At Sam's blank look, Dean spread his hands in an exasperated gesture. "The _road_ , Sam. Let's go. Time's a-tickin'." He stood up, and almost fell back down as a wave of dizziness hit him. He glanced at Sam, who had his back turned and was packing his laptop into his duffel. Dean swallowed heavily, and straightened himself up slowly just as Sam turned and looked at him.

"Just let me go let Bobby know we're leaving." Sam turned and went down the hall towards the staircase, and Dean bent down to retrieve his own duffel, hissing at the imagined feel of burnt flesh as he picked it up. He snatched the Impala's keys and headed to the front door.

Sam came thudding down the stairs and gave Dean a small smile. "Ready?" At Dean's nod, he turned and opened the front door, revealing a sky that was just starting to lighten to pink and purple hues.

Dean hesitated at the bottom of Bobby's steps. He chewed on his bottom lip before sighing. There was no way he'd be able to focus on the road with the way his back and head were hurting. Add the fact that his vision was starting to blur around the edges, and he was pretty sure he'd crash his Baby before they even left South Dakota. "Sam," he said quietly.

His brother stopped a few feet ahead of him and turned around. "Yeah?"

Dean tossed the Impala's keys, and Sam grabbed them out of the air, a question in his eyes. "You better drive." He scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck and refused to look Sam in the eye. "Head's kinda fuzzy."

Sam clenched his jaw in worry, but nodded and didn't say anything, for which Dean was grateful. With a creak of hinges, Sam opened the driver side door and got in. Dean hesitated, glancing over at Bobby's window and seeing his surrogate uncle watching them closely. He lifted a hand in a half-hearted salute, and then climbed into the passenger seat.

The two brothers don't say anything to each other as Sam pulled the car out of Singer Salvage. Dean shifted down in his seat, and with the rumble of the Impala in his ears he drifted off, his mind filled with impossibly blue eyes surrounded in a field of red.

~*~*SPN~*~*

Castiel groaned as he swam back to consciousness. Although unconsciousness was not something he had ever really experienced as an angel, he immediately decided it was better than the burning agony that lit up his wings like wildfire. He shifted, and a soft sound like a whimper escaped the back of his throat.

"Ah, Cas. Welcome back to the land of the, well, humans, I guess." Crowley's voice sounded from nearby. "I'd say I'm sorry about your wings, but I'm not."

Castiel's eyes blinked open, and slowly focused on the face of Crowley who was sitting in a chair, fingers steepled against his chin and one ankle resting on a knee. "Crowley," he rasped. He tried to push himself into a sitting position, but an arc of pain shot through him and he fell back with a cry.

Crowley rolled his eyes, but stood up and walked over to the struggling angel. He reached down a hand and caught Castiel by the elbow. He immediately tried to pull back, but his strength was gone. Crowley tightened his grip and hauled Castiel up. He kept a hand on his elbow and led him over to the chair that he had just vacated.

Castiel sat and squinted up at Crowley, who stared right back. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Castiel sat back. "Thank-you," he ground out.

A smirk appeared on Crowley's face. "Don't thank me, Castiel. Thank your loverboy and his complete and utter devotion to you." Crowley rolled his eyes. "Because of that, I get something I've wanted to get my hands on for a very long time, and you get to be _not_ burning in the fires of Hell. It's a win-win scenario!"

Castiel's eyes widened. "Dean," he whispered.

"Of course _Dean,_ " Crowley snorted. "Who else would I be talking about?"

Blue eyes narrowed as he glared at Crowley. "What did you make him do, Crowley?" he hissed. "If you have laid one hand on him-"

Crowley chuckled. "I swear, Castiel, you two are made for each other. He said the exact same thing to me about you. And I didn't do anything to him, don't worry your burnt little feathers off, he's fine."

At Crowley's mention of his wings, Castiel felt the pain he had been blocking out pour into him again, and he slammed his eyes shut and tried to breathe through the pain as he had seen both Dean and Sam do on multiple occasions. He pushed it down to a semi-manageable level, and tried to focus his Grace to heal them. Once again there was no respite, as he was still unable to heal. He grimaced as he was unable to find a comfortable position. Giving up, he looked around the room. "Where are we?" He asked Crowley.

"A little demonic safe house I created." Crowley replied.

"I am back on Earth?"

"Yes, but don't worry. Big brother isn't watching you this time." At Castiel's confused look, Crowley rolled his eyes again before motioning to the windows and door. "I took care of it. Anti-big-brother sigils. He won't find you."

Castiel nodded solemnly. Now that Crowley mentioned it, he felt the power of the sigils. "Twice you have saved me. I am injured and, as much as I hate to admit it, in your debt. I admit you have me at an unfair advantage, Crowley." He tilted his head as he regarded Crowley. "So am I your prisoner then?"

"Not so long as Dean comes through. I have too much to do to bother with an angelic prisoner. I _do_ have Hell to run, you know."

Castiel said nothing and continued to stare at Crowley, who shifted uncomfortably. Injured or no, Castiel was still an angel, and no demon enjoyed the power of their looks. 

Crowley gulped. "I think I hear one of my advisors calling. Gotta run. Make yourself at home, Cas. Mi casa su casa." He paused. "I'll be back when I hear from Dean." He vanished, leaving Castiel alone with his thoughts.

~*~SPN~*~

Dean crouched behind the large decorative rock, hearing Sam do the same behind him. He tilted his head and listened to the sound of the approaching guard's footsteps. Bobby said they would have two minutes to make it across the lot and through the door before the next security guard made the pass.

Dean pulled out his lock pick kit and paused when he felt Sam's hand on his shoulder. "You're sure you're feeling up to this, Dean? I can go in myself-"

"Like I told you two minutes ago and two minutes before that, Samantha, I'm fine. Now lay off, this I something I need to do." Dean growled lowly. "Shut up, guard's comin."

Sure enough, a beam from a flashlight illuminated the area above and around the rock, and the two brothers pressed themselves flat against its surface. The guard continued past, and Dean held up a hand to motion for Sam to follow. He slowly crept out from behind the rock and looked up and down the road. Seeing the coast was clear, he started for the door across the way, Sam right behind him.

They made it to the door without incident. Dean pulled a pick out, but was dismayed to see that his hands were shaking. He cursed under his breath; time was running out before the next patrol would pass. Dean looked over his shoulder at Sam, who looked back at him with worried eyes before snatching the picks out of his hand without a word.

Sam had the door unlocked in a matter of seconds, and he grabbed Dean by his coat sleeve before  
shoving them both through the door and closing it carefully. Dean looked up the short hallway they found themselves in. At the end a few feet away it branched into a T-intersection.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by Sam grabbing his wrist and holding it up to examine. "The hell?" Dean snapped and tried to pull his hand back. Sam held on tightly and stared at the trembling hand.

"Jesus, Dean. You're clammy as hell, dude." He dropped Dean's hand, who immediately pulled it back and shoved it in his jacket pocket. "It's getting worse, isn't it?"

"Can we not talk about this here, Sammy?" Dean hissed, before turning and heading down the hall.  
Sam clenched his jaw, but said nothing and followed after his brother. They reached the end of the hall and paused. "Bobby said there's a camera to the right of us, so remember what we gotta do is go to the left and stay against the wall. There should be an empty storage room right there that we can get into and access the air vents." Sam whispered. Dean didn't reply, but nodded his head to show he heard.

They darted around the corner, sticking to the shadows. They reached the door quickly and Dean was pleased to see that it was unlocked. He opened it and slid in, Sam right behind him.

Dean looked around the room. It was mostly empty, save for a few tables and chairs stacked up against one wall, and some boxes along another. He looked up and saw the air vent that Bobby had promised would be in there. He turned to Sam and gave a small grin. "You do realize this is the most cliché B&E we've ever done, right Sammy?"

Sam grinned right back, before moving to grab one of the chairs and bringing it over to stand beneath the vent. He stepped up on it and stretched up to push the vent cover out of the way, wincing at the sound it made. After a pause to make sure no one heard and would come running, he nodded in satisfaction and stepped back down. "Okay, you go up first and I'll give you a boost. Then you can help me up."

Dean snorted. "I got this, Sam. I'm a master at all things breaking and entering." He moved to the chair and stepped up. He reached his arms over his head. The vent was just out of reach. Dean bit his lip and swung his eyes over to meet Sam's, who was smirking widely at him. He looked back up at the vent and hopped on the chair, snarling when the vent remained out of reach.

Sam chuckled and moved over to the chair. "Sure you don't want my help?" Without waiting for Dean's reply, Sam grabbed Dean by the legs and hefted him up to the hole.

Dean yelped as his upper body was suddenly in the air vent. He pulled himself up the rest of the way and squeezed himself around to reach down to his brother. As Sam grabbed his hand, he glared daggers. "I would've had it, Sammy."

"Mmhmm," was all Sam replied as he settled inside the vent. He pulled out his phone and opened the plans that Bobby had sent to his phone. "We need to head down this way," he pointed, "and follow it until it reaches a T-intersection. Then turn left."

"Great," Dean muttered under his breath, as he started heading down the vent. The two brothers moved as quietly as they could, not wanting to alert any of the security that they were crawling through the ceiling vents. Dirt and dust kicked up by their shuffling tickled his nose and he held his breath to try to avoid sneezing.

*~*~SPN~*~*

Castiel was starting to feel desperate. Knowing Dean had made a deal with the King of Hell just to try to save him was not good, and Castiel felt dismayed knowing he had pushed Dean to that. But what really was making him worry was what Raphael was going to do.

He knew that Dean was still hidden with the sigils on his ribs, but Raphael was powerful. Castiel knew he was on some unknown time limit that Raphael had set, and he felt dread vibrate down his weakened Grace at what his older brother would try to do when he was unable to open the cage.

The thought of what Raphael was forcing him to do sent a pulse of rage through him, and his wings fluttered unconsciously, causing him to grit his teeth in pain. He needed to calm down. He needed Dean.

Castiel decided to try once again to reach for his bondmate. He pulled all his Grace that he could and focused it down the bond. He reached as hard as he could for Dean. For a second he felt him. Cas had a moment to wrap himself in the essence of Dean, before the fragile strands of his Grace that tied him to Dean at that moment snapped. His own Grace whipped back at him in the backlash, and he screamed before he descended once more into the waiting arms of oblivion.

*~*~SPN~*~*

"Next right, then follow down to another intersection," Sam said softly behind him.

As Dean crawled along he felt a tickle in his mind. _Cas_ , his mind filled in. That felt like Cas! Dean closed his eyes and attempted to feel along the bond to his angel, something that had become harder and harder to do the longer he was separated from Cas. For a brief moment, he almost felt like he could feel him, but then his head exploded with agony; he fell forward onto his elbows with a gasp and blackness overtook his vision.

"Dean?" Sam couldn't see what was happening with his brother, but he knew that sound that Dean made. "Dean!" He tried again, as loudly as he dared. When Dean didn't move, Sam swore and tried to maneuver his large body around his brother's. He managed to squeeze Dean against one side of the vent, and inched his way alongside. "Shit, not again," he hissed when he saw the blood dripping from Dean's nose. He tore a strip form the bottom of his shirt and used that to dab at Dean's nose, then tapped Dean's cheek with one hand. "Dean, bro, come on." There was no response, and Sam shut his eyes and scrubbed his hand down his face.

Sam pulled out his phone and used the light of the screen to examine Dean closer. His skin was paler than before, and beads of sweat stood out on his forehead. "Shit. Fuck." Sam swore again. He shook Dean's shoulder. "Dean, man, please wake up! It's really not a good time for you to go all comatose."

Sam continued to shake and plead with his brother. Finally, Dean's eyes blinked open. "Oh thank God," Sam said in relief. But that relief was short lived, because it was obvious from the moment Sam looked into Dean's eyes that nobody was home. Dean's green eyes were glassy and vacant, and his mouth was slack.

Sam sat back as much as he was able and lowered his head into his hands. "Please just sit up so we can get out of here in one piece, Dean."

His hands dropped down in shock as his brother responded to his voice and sat up. "Hey, hey Dean? you there, man?" There was no response, but Dean's glassy eyes turned to Sam. Sam wiped again at the blood that continued to leak out of Dean's nose. He bit his lip, knowing they didn't have any choice but to continue. "I need you to follow me, can you do that for me?" He pulled himself in front of his brother, wincing at the bang his knee made on the vent. He crawled forward a couple of inches, relieved when Dean began following him. Apparently he was aware enough to follow orders when he was like this. "Can probably thank Dad for that," muttered Sam as he crawled along.

"Okay, so one more right and then forward about fifteen feet," Sam muttered to himself after glancing down at his phone for the directions Bobby had texted him. He glanced back every few feet or so, ensuring Dean was following him. He was, but the vacant look had not left his eyes.

Finally, Sam reached the vent that led down into the storage area where the Egyptian artifacts were being held. He released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding and turned his head to look at Dean. "Dean," he hissed, already knowing it would be useless, Dean was still lost in the bond strain. Sam bit his lip and glanced between Dean and the room below him. "Guess it's up to me then," he said. He pulled his bag over his shoulder, yanked out the rope and a picture of the ring that he was looking for.

He held the end of the rope up to Dean. "Hey, Dean, I need you to hold on to this real tightly for me, okay?" Dean's hands reached up to grab the rope. Sam nodded. "Good, man. Okay, now I'm going to lower myself down. When I tug on the rope twice, like this," he pulled on the rope to show Dean what he meant, "I need you to help pull me up. Can you do that for me, bro?" There was no reply, but Sam wasn't really expecting one.

Sam quietly and gently removed the vent cover and eased down to give the room a scan. Bobby had said there were two cameras in the room, but both pointed at the separate entrances, not expecting anyone to come through the ceiling. Dean had joked that whoever was in charge of the security for the building had obviously never watched any movie about a heist.

Seeing nobody in the room, Sam readied himself to go in. Originally this was supposed to be Dean's job, and Sam was supposed to remain in the vent to help Dean back up, but now the job of retrieving the ring fell to him. He gave the rope a firm tug, relieved that Dean maintained a strong grip. He lowered himself down the rope into the room, his heart pounding in his chest until his feet touched solid ground.

Sam looked around. He was surrounded on all sides by statues, sarcophagi, and shelves of boxes. The sheer amount of golden color made everything blend together. he sighed and crept towards the nearest set of shelves.

The relief he felt when he realized that everything was clearly labeled was huge. He scanned over the labels, pausing to look whenever he saw one saying ring, or even any type of jewelry. Finally, he found it. The Ring of Ammit. He picked it up gently, turning it in his hands as he compared it to the picture. This was it. Sam could feel the power of the ring vibrating through his body. He didn't know if it was because of the demon blood in him was reacting to it's proximity, or if it was just that powerful. Surely if it was that poignant someone would have realized before?

He put the ring carefully in his pocket and slipped back to the rope. It was still being held up. "Please be  
back, Dean," he said to himself as he grabbed the rope and gave it two firm tugs. He felt the rope slowly being hauled up, and released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. Sam pulled himself up, hand over hand, helping as much as he could. When he was within reach of the vent shaft, he latched onto the edges and dragged himself through the hole.

To his dismay, Dean was still impassive, his eyes fixed on nothing. His nose had stopped bleeding, which gave Sam a bit of relief. He reached forward and put his hand on his shoulder, "I got the ring Dean, we can go get Cas back now." Not even mentioning Cas drew Dean out, and Sam wanted to cry out his sorrow. Instead, he replaced the vent and squeezed past his unresponsive brother. "Follow me, Dean."

The two of them retraced their steps back to the empty room they had started in. "Okay Dean, you're going to go first. Lower yourself slowly down the rope and wait for me when you get down."

Dean did as he was directed, and Sam held onto the edges of the air vent and slowly eased himself down, dropping to the floor to land in a crouch. He straightened, and moved over to Dean, ducking his head slightly to look right into Dean's green eyes. "Hey, man. You able to come back yet?" Dean just blinked slowly, but otherwise showed no sign that he heard Sam. Sam sighed heavily. "Okay, Dean. It's okay. We'll figure this out when we get out of here. Come on."

Sam kept his hand on Dean's back and guided him to the door. Cracking it open slightly, he peeked up and down the hall. Noting the coast was clear, he grabbed Dean's hand and tugged him along behind him as he darted around the corner. They reached the door to the outside world, and Sam tugged it open and pushed Dean through before closing it gently behind him.

He had just taken a step towards his brother when he heard the cock of a gun and a shaky voice call out, "Stop where you are, or I'll shoot."

Sam's stomach flipped, and he slowly turned around. The sight that greeted him made him want to reach around his back and grab his own gun. An older security guard had his gun trained on Dean who was several feet away from where Sam stood, and his eyes were wildly flicking back and forth between the two brothers. The gun shook slightly in his hand, and Sam's heart stuttered when he saw the man's finger tighten on the trigger.

"Hands where I can see them," the guard said.

Sam slowly raised his hands, but Dean's remained at his sides. The guard gestured with his gun at Dean, and Sam's eyes widened. "Wait-," he said, and stepped towards his brother.

The sound of the gun going off was loud in Sam's ears, and for a split second he feared he was going to have to watch Dean die in front of him all over again, but then the pain hit, and he cried out in shock.

~*~*SPN~*~*

Dean blinked and came back to himself at the sound of pain from his brother. He gasped and whirled around. "Sammy?" He whispered. Then when he saw the blood pouring from his brother's shoulder his vision turned red, and he cried out louder, "Sammy!" He spun in the direction of the guard, who stared at them shocked, as if he could not believe he had actually shot someone.

Deans lip curled, and he whipped out his gun and charged the guard. The guard took a shaky step back and held up his gun in hands that trembled. Dean neared the guard and trained his gun. "You shot my brother, you asswad." He snarled. "Tell me why I shouldn't shoot you right back?"

"Dean!" Sam called out from behind him. "Dean, let him go, I'm fine!"

Dean didn't tear his eyes from the quaking man in front of him. "He shot you, Sam. You are not fine!" He snarled back.

"Dean, leave it. We need to go. We need to get Cas back, remember?"

The guard's radio crackled, and a nasally voice came through the speaker. "Joe, come in. We heard a shot fired from zone two, everything okay over there?"

Dean's finger tightened on the trigger. "Joe," he said calmly. "You're gonna tell them you got spooked by an animal. Then me and my brother over there," he jerked his thumb behind him, "are gonna leave so I can take care of the fucking _hole_ you put in his shoulder, and you get to live another day, capiche?"

Joe nodded vigorously and did as he was told. When he lowered the radio, he looked over Dean's shoulder at Sam. "Uhh, look. I've never shot anyone before. The gun is just supposed to be part of the uniform, I never thought I'd have to use it." He swallowed heavily. "They're gonna send someone to check it out anyways. Get your brother out of here and get him taken care of. The last thing I want is some kid's death on my hands; nothing they have in there is worth that."

Dean lowered the gun but didn't put it away. He sized up Joe for a second then nodded before wheeling around and sprinting as fast as his still shaky muscles could carry him. He reached Sam, who had already ripped another strip from his shirt. Dean quickly tightened it around Sam's arm, before grabbing him by the good arm and hauling him in the direction they parked the Impala.

When they were a far enough distance away, Dean pulled them to a stop. "What the fuck, Sam? What happened? Did we get the ring? Are you okay?" He asked as he peeled the bloody bandage away from Sam's shoulder. "Shit. There's no exit wound. We gotta get somewhere safe and get this bullet out of you, Sammy. I'll put a new bandage on you when we get to the car. Let's get out of here, then I want to hear everything that happened."

Sam nodded, "Yeah, we got the ring, Dean," he whispered, then he paled as Dean tightened the blood soaked shirt back around the wound. They made it back to the Impala without further incident, and Dean opened the door to the passenger seat for Sam. Sam hesitated. "Uh, Dean?" he asked tentatively. "I'm not so sure you should be driving, man."

Dean looked at his brother incredulously. "'Scuse me? I'm not the one with a bullet in my shoulder, Sam!"

Sam chewed on his bottom lip. "Yeah, I know that. But Dean, man. You just went away back there. I mean, there was no warning!" At Dean's blank look, Sam continued. "When we were in the air vent. You just went down, and then it was like the lights were on but nobody was home! You'd follow instructions, but you wouldn't respond to me, nothing. What if it happens again while we're driving, Dean?" He shrugged. "Besides, it's not bleeding too bad. I won't pass out from blood loss if we stop soon."

Dean stared at Sam for a moment before looking away, tightening his jaw. Truth be told, the fact that he couldn't remember part of the evening scared the crap out of him. The guilt crashed down onto his shoulders in a heavy way as he realized he was probably responsible for Sam getting shot. "Did I-" his voice choked up and he cleared his throat. "Did I cause you to get shot Sam?" He asked quietly.

"It wasn't your fault, Dean."

Well that pretty much said it all. Wordlessly, he stepped over to the trunk and pulled out the med kit. He pulled out some bandages and some extra strength Tylenol. It wasn't the best, but if it could keep the edge off for Sam until they got to a motel, then it would have to do. He handed the keys to his brother and motioned for him to have a seat in the back. "Not letting you drive anywhere 'til I fix that shoulder up some," he grunted.

Sam smiled softly and allowed his brother to doctor up his shoulder the best he could. He took the pills from Dean's open palm and the bottle of water his brother held out for him.

"You drive until you get to the first motel you see. Then I'm getting that bullet out of you. And if you start to feel dizzy _at all_ , you pull over and we'll figure something else out. Get Bobby to come get us or something." Dean glared at Sam until his brother nodded his acquiescence. He waited for Sam to gingerly settle himself in the driver's seat, then opened the passenger door and lowered himself down.

Dean knew Cas had reached out to him in there. He couldn't remember anything _after_ that, but he knew he felt Cas. Now his head hurt even more, and spots continued to dance in his vision. It was probably a good thing Sam insisted on driving, bullet in the shoulder notwithstanding. Dean didn't trust himself not to crash the Impala into a tree and end up killing both himself and his brother. Then he'd never be able to help Cas.

They drove in silence for a few minutes, letting the roar of the car's engine soothe both of their nerves like she had always done. Dean felt a vibration in his pocket. He pulled out his cell and held it up, squinting at the screen. Bobby. Dean flipped it open and answered with a simple, "'Yeah."

"Dean. Trust you boys made it out of there okay?"

Dean glanced over at Sam, frowning at his pallor. But his brother's hands were steady on the wheel, and when Sam's eyes flashed over to meet his briefly, they were lucid and clear. "Well, sorta," he said into the phone after a brief pause. "We got the ring. But Sam got hurt." He swallowed heavily.

"Dean? What happened? He okay?" Bobby prompted.

"He will be. Can you meet us? We're just driving to a motel, I'll let you know which one when we get to it."

"Sure thing," replied Bobby. After a moment, he added, "You okay, kid?"

Dean scrubbed a hand down his face. "No," he admitted. "But I can finish this. I _will_ finish this. I'll call ya soon, Bobby." He hung up the phone and sighed. "You okay Sam?"

"Well, I hurt," Sam said. "But I saw a sign for a motel. Should get there in about ten minutes. I can get us there."

Dean nodded.

Sure enough, a few minutes later Sam pulled the Impala into a nearly empty parking lot of a motel and pulled up to the office. Dean opened his door and got out. "I'll be right back, Sammy, just hang in there."

Sam nodded, but didn't say anything. Dean could tell the pain and blood loss was starting to get to him, and so he turned and quickly headed into the motel office.

The woman behind the desk looked up at him as he entered and beamed. "Well, hello there, sweetie!"

Inwardly, Dean grimaced, but he pasted a smile on his face anyways. Normally, he had no problem making nice with women, but right now he just wanted to get Sam into a room as quick as possible. "Evenin'," he said. "One room for the night please. Two beds."

He saw the woman peer over his shoulder towards the car, and her eyes lit up at the lack of another woman with him. It was all he could do to not roll his eyes at her as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his credit card. Well, not _Dean Winchester's,_ but he could be Todd Rycliff for tonight.

"Sure thing!" She said cheerily, and pulled out the form for him. She slid it over the counter to him, and leaned down, giving Dean an ample view of her chest. Once, Dean would've happily flirted back with her. But ever since he and Cas got together, he didn't even look at other people like that.

Without looking at her, or her cleavage, he pulled the form over and signed it before slapping his credit card down. "Extra towels, please." He ignored her huff of disappointment, and snagged the key and the towels she pulled out. "Thanks"

Dean turned and quickly strode out the door, hearing her mutter something rude under her breath. He didn't care. He only had two concerns. Sam, and Cas. One of those he could take care of now, and as the office door slammed shut behind him, he headed over to do just that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Dean grabbed their duffels and the med kit from the trunk before slamming it shut. He followed Sam into the motel room and dropped the duffels on the floor. He opened the med kit at the table, drawing out what he would need. "Lay on the bed, Sam," he said as he grabbed a vial of morphine and a needle.

He filled up the syringe and pushed the plunger to get rid of the air bubbles. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Damn, but he hated when Sam was hurt. Always felt like his fault, like he should have protected Sammy better. He plastered a grin on his face before turning around. "You're getting the good stuff today, Sammy-boy," he said as he brandished the needle.

Sam made a face. "I hate needles," he muttered.

"Yeah, I know. But I don't really feel like holding you down while I dig through your shoulder. So you're gonna have to get one. Let's get you out of the shirt first." Dean placed the morphine-filled needle on the nightside table, and grabbed the pair of scissors. He cut off Sam's shirt. "Man, no wonder we never have any clothes." He pulled the remnants of the shirt off, and winced as he saw the damage the bullet had done in the light.

Sam just nodded and held his arm out for Dean to slip the needle in. As they waited for the morphine to take effect, Dean laid out and sterilized all the supplies they would need. "How you feelin', Sammy?" Dean asked after a few minutes.

Sam giggled. "Good," he said.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'd say so. I need you to keep still for me, okay?"

"'Kaaayy," Sam slurred.

Dean took a deep breath and picked up the tweezers. He winced as he stuck them in Sam's shoulder. Fresh blood welled up and he used his other hand to wipe it away with a damp cloth. Sam began humming and tapping his fingers, causing Dean to growl out, "Still, Sam. Stay still."

"Sorry."

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Dean felt the tweezers clink against something metal, and he carefully pinched the bullet between them and drew it out. He held it up before his eyes, always amazed at how something so tiny could cause so much damage.

"Lemme see, Dean!" Sam mumbled. He tried to snatch the bullet out of Dean's hands with his good arm, but missed completely. He looked at his hand with a shocked expression, as if he couldn't believe he missed.

Dean chuckled and passed it over. "Here. Keep laying still, man. I gotta stitch you up."

Sam held the bullet up and examined it closely. "Pretty," he said.

Dean paused as he threaded the needle. "Seriously? Dude, you are fucking weird on morphine." He started sewing Sam's shoulder closed, shaking his head at his brother. "Well, the good thing is that the bullet didn't do much damage. You'll just be sore for a while."

"Not sore. Got the good stuff, you said!" Sam protested.

Dean finished sewing Sam's shoulder shut, then he grinned and patted his brother's head. "Yeah, Sammy. Always the good stuff for you." He pulled out the bandages and wrapped them around Sam's shoulder tightly. Then he started cleaning up, as he shook his head at Sam. "Dude, one of these days I gotta get you on video when you're high on morphine. Perfect blackmail material."

Sam stuck out his tongue at Dean.

"Just relax, dude. I'm gonna give Bobby a shout and let him know where we ended up." Dean sat down heavily on the other bed and pulled out his phone. He scratched his forehead and dialed Bobby's number.

"Yeah," Bobby's gruff voice answered.

"Hey, Bobby. It's me. We made it to the motel alright." Dean said as he watched Sam waving his hand holding the bullet around.

"Good. You get that brother of yers fixed up?"

"Yeah, just finished. Dork's playing with the bullet," Dean replied with a roll of his eyes in Sam's direction. Sam wasn't paying attention; now his eyes were crossed as he tried to focus on the bloody bullet in front of his face.

Bobby snorted through the phone. "Morphine?"

"Yup. Anyways, we're in the Starlite Motel, room 18."

"I'm about two hours away. I'll be there soon."

"Thanks, Bobby."

"Don't mention it. Get some rest, Dean. You sound beat." Bobby hung up the phone. Dean stared at it for a moment. "You have no idea," he whispered.

"What?" Sam shouted from the other bed.

~*~*SPN~*~*

"Okay, let's run over this again. You're going to meet Crowley and have him take you to Cas. Then you'll call me and let me know if Crowley held up his end of the deal."

"He better have," growled Dean.

Sam nodded before continuing. "Then I'll let you know where Bobby is."

"That's the plan," said Dean, as he tucked the demon killing knife into his jacket.

Sam reached out and grabbed Dean's arm. "Be careful, Dean."

Dean paused as he opened the motel's door. "I got this, Sammy. Rest that shoulder up, okay?"

Sam looked at Dean for moment before dropping his hand back down. "Yeah, man. I will." As the door shut behind Dean, he moved over to stand at the window and watched Dean head over to the car.

Dean opened the Impala's door and slid behind the wheel. Looking up, he saw Sam watching him from the window. He gave his brother a small grin in reassurance, then backed the car up. He needed to find somewhere to call Crowley. He drove for about ten minutes before a glowing neon sign caught his eye. A bar. Perfect. He could leave the Impala here and it wouldn't look like it was abandoned. He parked the car and got out.

He wandered around to the back of the building and took out his phone. He texted Crowley the name and location of the bar before leaning up against the brick to wait.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Dean," Crowley greeted him as he walked around the corner. "I can't say as I'm surprised you chose a bar to meet up in."

"Shut it, Crowley." Dean snapped. "Where's Cas?"

"Where's my ring, Dean?" Crowley shot back.

Dean glared at him. "When I get Cas, I'll call Sam and he'll tell me where Bobby is with the ring. Then you can have it, but first you take me to Cas."

Crowley paused and eyed Dean. "Fine. Hold onto your hat, Squirrel." He reached out and grabbed Dean by the elbow.

Dean opened his mouth to ask Crowley what he was doing, but the next second he was filled with the disorienting sensation of demon teleportation. It was nowhere near as smooth as when Cas flew him somewhere, and Dean fell heavily on his knees when they landed outside a small, abandoned house.

Dean's stomach rolled and he shook his head as he stood. "Not fun," he muttered under his breath. Suddenly, Dean could feel that Cas was close. The tiniest trickle of _Cas_ came through the bond. This was it! He was near! Dean's heart thudded against his chest in excitement.

Crowley stepped up to the door. Strange sigils that Dean didn't recognize had been painted above the door and each window. He eyed them with distrust.

Crowley noticed him looking them over. "Demonic sigils. Useful when you want something, or _someone_ to remain hidden from supernatural eyes." He opened the door and stepped inside, Dean followed him closely, through the door and into a tiny living room.

"Cas?" Dean whispered hoarsely. Oh god, his angel looked horrible. His wings... What happened to those beautiful wings? Dean reached out one hand and slowly reached for the least damaged one. A tiny twitch of the wing and a slight groan from Cas was the only response he got.

"No. Oh no, Cas." Dean knelt and cupped a hand against Cas's cheek. "Come on back, Cas. You can't leave me. Not now." Dean whirled on Crowley. "I told you what would happen if he was hurt, didn't I?" He hissed, pulling out the demon killing knife and advancing towards Crowley.

Crowley held up his hands. "And I told you I wouldn't hurt your boyfriend, Dean. And I didn't."

Deans lip curled up and he pointed back at as with the knife, not taking his eyes off of Crowley. "What the fuck am I supposed to believe happened then, huh?"

"Simple, really. He was attacked. By demons-" Crowley only had a moment to react before Dean lunged, and he slammed the hunter into the wall and held him there with his powers. "Will you settle down and listen!" He yelled. "You have got to be the most impatient human I have ever had the misfortune to meet!"

Dean fought against the invisible restraints for a few minutes as Crowley looked on unimpressed. With a final curse, Dean fell limp and glared at Crowley, who simply raised an eyebrow. Dean grit his teeth but nodded, and Crowley released him.

"As I was saying, before you went all nasty on me, was that he was attacked by demons, but they weren't any of mine."

"Wait, any of yours? Aren't you the king of Hell? Don't you control the demons down here?" Dean asked incredulously.

Crowley shrugged. "Of course I do, Dean, but there's always gonna be some assholes in every kingdom. Now, you have your angel. I believe you owe me something."

Dean ignored Crowley and turned back to Cas. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the bond, and suddenly he was overwhelmed by the unmistakable feeling of _Cas_ that he'd been missing. It was like a set of floodgates had been opened, and every part of him that had just been Dean was suddenly Dean and Cas and it was so right, so perfect, and he wanted to stay in this state of _deanandcas_ forever and _ohgodhowdidhelivewithoutthis_ and-

"Dean."

Dean's eyes flew open and met the blue eyes of his angel. "Cas," he whispered hoarsely. He grabbed the shaky hand that Cas reached up towards him. Cas was awake. Cas was awake and talking. They could figure everything else out later. He gently raised Cas's head and slid it into his lap. "You okay?" He asked roughly. "What happened to you?"

"Raphael."

Dean grimaced. "Yeah. I knew about that asshole already. Got some intel from Balthazar. Guy's a dick, but he really helped me out. No, what I meant was, what happened to your wings? How come you haven't healed them yet?"

"I was attacked by a mob of demons. I allowed myself to get distracted and got knocked down. My wings landed in Hellfire," Cas replied matter-of-factly. Dean winced in sympathy. "My Grace is not working. I thought it might have been because of the bond strain, but you are here now and I am still unable to heal." Cas's voice took on a pondering tone at the end. "I do not understand why I still cannot heal."

A thought hit Dean and his eyes widened in realization. "I felt you," he whispered. Cas's brow wrinkled slightly in confusion, and Dean continued. "I thought it was just a nightmare. But when your wings...I felt it Cas. Oh god, it was horrible."

Cas opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of a throat clearing behind them sounded. "As much as I hate to break up this sweet little reunion Dean, shouldn't you be getting Moose on the phone? I don't have all day."

"Can you give me a goddamn minute here, Crowley? You'll get your damn ring, just give me one fuckin' minute!"

"Dean, it's okay. _We're_ okay." Cas's gravelly voice reached Dean's ears and instantly calmed him down.

Dean gave his angel a small smile. "Yeah, I know. No thanks to your dickhead of an older brother though."

"Raphael, he is still out there! He has to have figured out by now that I will have failed in the task." Cas tried to push himself up, but fell back down with a cry. "You are in danger, Dean. I have put you in danger. You must get somewhere safe before he finds you!" Cas said frantically.

"Hey Cas, relax. Lay still, and don't worry about me, alright? I can take care of myself," Dean said in a soothing voice.

"Dean. This is Raphael. He-" Cas paused and caught his breath. "He can and will kill you as soon as he finds you. I have to stop him."

"Cas, no offense, but you can't even sit up on your own right now. We'll figure out Raph as soon as you get better."

"Well, if you would just give me my damn ring, I might be able to help there." Crowley's smarmy voice interjected from behind them.

Dean whirled around to shoot a confused look at Crowley. "What the hell are you talking about, Crowley?"

"That ring is my access to a lot of power, Dean. A lot. As in, enough to take out an archangel," he grinned. "'Course, I would need it in my hands to actually _do_ anything."

"Seriously?"

"Dean, what did you promise him?" Castiel interjected.

Dean spared his angel a glance. "Don't worry about it, Cas." He turned back to Crowley. "Can you really take him out? As in, permanently?"

"Given enough souls I can," he replied with a nonchalant shrug. He explained his idea to Dean, who nodded sharply.

Dean pulled out his phone and speed dialed Sam. "Hey, it's me."

"You got Cas?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I got him."

"He okay?"

"No. Where's Bobby?"

Sam rattled off an address. Dean looked up at Crowley. "You get that?" he asked.

"Got it." Crowley snapped his fingers and disappeared. A few seconds later, Dean heard Bobby's unmistakable shout of surprise.

"Bobby's here, Sam. I'll call you back." Dean hung up on his brother's startled protest and looked up as a nauseous looking Bobby followed Crowley into the room.

"Dean!" Bobby saw him and started forward, only to halt when his eyes finally registered the damaged angel in Dean's lap. "Balls! What happened to you?"

"Hello, Bobby," Cas rasped.

"You got the ring?" Dean asked. At Bobby's nod, Dean raised his chin towards Crowley. "Give it to him. We got a plan to stop Raphael for good."

~*~*SPN~*~*

Balthazar swung his legs back and forth as he sat on the cliff overlooking the ocean. He could hear through the Angel Radio that Raphael was coming for him. He had been outrunning his older brother for a while now, but he knew it was just a matter of time until he caught up to him.

Still, he was startled when he heard the deep voice behind him. "Hello, Balthazar."

He looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow at Raphael. "What? No fancy entrance? Or have you just come to enjoy the view, Raphael? I know this vessel is sexy, but surely you're too uptight to appreciate true beauty."

"Very funny, little traitor. Perhaps I should keep you around to amuse me instead of destroying you outright."

Balthazar winked then stood up, facing Raphael. "I'm not the traitor here, Raphie-boy." Raphael sneered at the nickname. " _You_ are."

Raphael chuckled at that. "How so? I just want Father's goals realized."

"So you forced bond strain on Castiel to do it? You know, I always thought you were a little slow on the uptake, but that's just really, really stupid. Dad would be so proud." Balthazar slowly clapped his hands.

"And you thought it would be smart to antagonize me?" Raphael replied calmly.

Balthazar felt his blade slip into his hand, and he tightened his grip on the handle. Surprise was his only chance. His strength had nothing on Raphael's, but if he could just wound him, he might stand a chance of escape. "No. But I figured since you're here anyway and the shoe fits..." He spread his wings and lunged. Suddenly it was as if his wings were frozen just a couple feet from Raphael. He closed his eyes. This was it.

Raphael pulled out his sword. "Mine's bigger." Without another word he rammed it into Balthazar's stomach. His eyes flew wide and his mouth formed a silent 'O'. Raphael pulled his sword out and watched disinterestedly as Balthazar's body slid to the ground. A bright flash of light appeared as his Grace was extinguished, and midnight imprints of his wings burned into the cliff rock.

~*~*SPN~*~*

"You sure we can trust him, Son?" Bobby asked, pointedly not looking at Crowley, who sat in the corner with the ring on a table. Crowley's eyes were glowing red as he pulled souls out of the void to power the ring.

Dean shrugged. "He saved Cas, and he doesn't want that cage opened any more than we do. This might be our only shot. I'm not willing to take the chance that Raph can grab Cas again." He turned to Crowley. "Can you grab Sam for me?" He told Crowley where Sam was and the demon vanished, only to reappear with a startled looking Sam in tow. "Hiya, Sammy," Dean said tiredly.

"Ugh, that's a horrible trip, Crowley. Dean! Cas!" He looked back and forth between the two. "What's going on?"

Dean told Sam about the plan to lure Raphael out and have Crowley use the power of the ring to destroy him. Sam scratched his head before looking up at Dean. "Dean, can I talk to you outside for a sec?" Dean nodded and the two of them left the room and headed outside. Sam grabbed his arm and gave Dean a hard look.

"What the fuck, Sam?" Dean hissed as he yanked his arm back. "Fuck, your sasquatch hands have some grip, dude," he muttered as he rubbed his arm where Sam had grabbed him.

"I don't want you being bait," Sam said simply. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Dean.

Dean stared at Sam as though he had grown a second head. "What?"

"You heard me," Sam repeated slowly. "I won't have you putting your life on the line, _again_. Do you have any idea how hard it has been watching you this past little bit? God, Dean, it was like you were slowly dying and there was nothing I could do about it! You're always putting yourself in danger, and I won't go through that again. I _can't_."

Dean snorted and raised an eyebrow. "So how do you propose we call out Raphael, then? If you have another alternative, I'm all ears."

Sam took a deep breath. "Use Cas."

"No! Absolutely not!" Dean began pacing back and forth.

"Dean, it's really the only choice we have; he's an angel. He has a way better chance of surviving than you do!" Sam tried to placate his brother, but Dean wasn't having it.

"He's not using Cas as bait! No fuckin' way in hell! How could you even suggest that, Sam?" Dean cried. He ran both hands through his hair. "No. No, no, no!" He could feel his muscles clench with tension at the suggestion, and grit his teeth as he tried to calm down.

Sam opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by a gravelly voice in the doorway. "Dean, stop. Sam is right; this is something I must do."

Dean whirled, facing Cas with a wide-eyed look that warred with the snarl on his lips. "No!" He snapped once again, this time at his angel. Why was nobody listening to him?

"Dean!" Cas's voice echoed with celestial power, and Dean flinched back despite himself. "I will do this, and you will not stop me." Then his voice softened, and he pushed himself away from Bobby, who had helped him to the door. "I cannot take the chance that Raphael will come after you again. And Sam is right. I am an angel, and even though I am weakened at the moment I am still more powerful."

"Cas..." Dean whispered. He looked at Cas pleadingly. "Don't. You don't need to do this."

"But I will. For you."

Sam cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'm just gonna...Yeah." He squeezed past Cas, who never took his eyes from Dean, and escaped back into the house with Bobby.

Dean looked at the ground for a moment and neither of them said a word. Then he looked back into Cas's eyes. He saw strength, determination, and love shining back at him. He had faith in Cas. If anyone was able to do this, it was him. "Yeah, okay. You don't do anything stupid, you hear me? Let Crowley take care of that asshole."

Cas smiled and nodded. "I promise, Dean. I will come back to you."

"You better."

~*~*SPN~*~*

"Raphael!" Castiel shouted at the heavens. "Come down here and face me!"

Thunder crashed as Raphael appeared in front of him. "Castiel. You have failed in your task, I see." He looked around and arched an eyebrow. "And you aren't hiding behind your pathetic human. I'm shocked."

"You will never speak of Dean again, Raphael." Castiel snarled. He unfurled his wings in his anger, forgetting for a moment about the burns. Raphael's eyes raked over his wings and he smirked, but didn't say anything about them.

"Funny, Balthazar thought he could take me too. Too bad for him, he was just as much of a failure as you."

Castiel's heart dropped and his face paled. "What did you say?" he whispered.

"Balthazar. He betrayed me by helping your human, so I had to take care of him."

"You lie!" he hissed.

"Do I?" Raphael said. He took a step towards Castiel, who backed up away from him. Raphael smiled and took another step closer. "Since you failed to open the cage, you are of no more use to me. I will kill you, then take care of Dean." One more step towards Castiel.

"No, you won't," said Cas lowly. He flicked open Dean's zippo and dropped it on the ground, lighting the ring of holy oil that Raphael had just walked into.

Raphael looked around him at the fire, a laugh rising up from his throat. "You are a fool, Castiel. You may escape me now, but when this extinguishes I will find you. And Dean."

Castiel didn't answer. Instead his eyes looked at something over Raphael's shoulder. The archangel slowly turned around. Standing behind him was the King of Hell, Crowley. His eyes were glowing red and a pulse of power came from a ring on his hand. Raphael tilted his head. "What is that, demon?"

A bright red light slammed into him, and his celestial scream of pain and surprise echoed throughout heaven. All around his vessel's body, flames licked the ground. Raphael's many wings flared once, and then exploded in a flash of light and Grace. Both Castiel and Crowley covered their faces. When the light faded away, nothing remained of Raphael, not even imprints of his wings.

Castiel stared at the spot that Raphael had once stood, unable to believe it was over. Distantly he heard the voices of his brothers and sisters crying out, some in rage, some in dismay, and others in joy. His thoughts drifted to Balthazar briefly, and he felt a pang of regret that his brother, his friend had to die. But he would always remember the sacrifice he had made.

"That was fun," said Crowley, coming up to stand behind Castiel.

The angel looked over his shoulder at him, before a small smile crossed his face. "I never thought I would say this, Crowley, but I believe you are right."

Crowley put out the holy oil with a wave of his hands then looked at Castiel. "Shall we?" A snap of the fingers and a flutter of wings, and the field was empty.

~*~*SPN~*~*

"Well, with that, I got places to go, souls to collect. A king's work is never done." A snap of his fingers, and Crowley disappeared, leaving the four of them standing around.

Sam cleared his throat and looked meaningfully at Bobby. "So, uhh. Maybe you and I should go grab a bite, what do you think?"

Bobby grinned and nodded his head in agreement. "Good idea. You two lovebirds stay here and hold down the fort for us. We'll bring you something back. Eventually." He chuckled and followed Sam out of the house.

Dean stared at the shut door for a moment, thankful for Sam and Bobby's consideration. Then he moved to stand beside Cas, drinking in the sight of his angel alive. "Cas, are you sure about this bonding? I mean, I'm just a human. I'll die one day. Probably soon-"

"Do not say those things, Dean! You will not die soon, I will not allow it."

Dean snorted. "Not sure you'll have much choice there, Cas."

"Dean!"

"Okay, Cas, okay. I'll shut up about that. But I'm serious when I asked if you're sure you want to bond with a human."

"Haven't I made my feelings clear enough? Besides, we've already bonded Dean. We just need to complete the ritual to finalize it. Usually that's done right away, but we obviously couldn't."

"That's why the bond strain crap, right?" Dean made a face.

Cas nodded.

"Okay, so what do we gotta do for the ritual?"

"The ritual is s the Grace to Grace. Or soul to Grace, in our case. This is can be done, but I'm not going to lie, it will hurt."

Dean grimaced inwardly. Of course it would, everything good in his life had to come with a bit of pain it seemed. He didn't voice his thoughts, instead just looked at Cas questioningly and asked, "how?"

"Essentially, I must take part of your soul into me, and you must take some of my Grace."

"So. Simple then," Cas stared and Dean cleared his throat. "Sorry."

"We have to carve Enochian sigils on each other's body using a blade of heaven. This will allow our feelings to flow between one another easier."

"Easier?" Dean was confused. "Easier than what?" He had been able to feel _Cas_ , but never any of his feelings.

Cas tilted his head to the side. "Can you not feel what I am feeling towards you, Dean?"

Dean shook his head. "No. Just feel you, nothing specific."

Cas chewed on his lower lip. Dean couldn't help but stare and think to himself how much he would like to be the one chewing on those lips.

Cas stopped chewing his lip and grinned at him. "Do not worry. You will after the ritual." 

"I will?"

"Yes. It will allow us to always feel if the other is in danger or pain."

"So, uhh. Should we...you know?" Dean paused and looked at Cas.

"Start the ritual?" Cas finished for him. Dean nodded. "Yes. That _is_ why your brother and Bobby left us alone."

Cas moved, shrugging out of his coat with a wince and Dean hurried to help him. "God, Cas. I wish there was something I could do for your wings," he said as he helped Cas into the chair.

"The pain has decreased. They will heal, given enough time." His sword slid down into his hand. A twist of his Grace and some paper and a pen appeared on the table beside him. He picked them up and very carefully began to draw some symbols. "This is what you must carve on me, Dean. You must be very careful and copy this exactly." He finished his drawing and Dean picked it up and looked it over. He thought he recognized several of the sigils, but most of them were unfamiliar to him.

"You should start on me first. As I mentioned, it is supposed to be a painful process, and I would rather have you focused on getting the symbols correct."

"I can handle it!" Dean protested.

Cas smiled at him. "I know you can. But so can I, and I know the symbols very well."

"Okay, fine." Dean muttered.

Cas slowly began peeling himself out of his clothes. Every movement stretched and pulled at the injuries on his wings, but he pushed that pain down. Soon he would be feeling a lot more.

"You must carve those symbols into my chest. Start at the top and work your way down, going left to right." He paused, then added carefully, "You have to ignore my pain, Dean. If I tell you to stop you must continue."

Dean swallowed heavily. The thought of causing Cas more pain did not sit well with him. He was already hurt. Maybe they should wait until his wings healed. He opened his mouth to say just that.

"I will be fine, Dean. This is something that cannot wait any longer."

Dean stared at Cas. "Did you just read my mind?" He asked. Hopefully this wouldn't be a permanent side effect of the bond. His thoughts were private, and the idea that Cas could read his mind any time he wanted made him slightly uncomfortable.

Cas smiled softly. "Not exactly. The bond lets me feel what you are feeling, not your exact thoughts. I felt your worry for me just then," he replied.

Dean nodded, relieved. That was something he could deal with. He picked up the angel blade and took a deep breath. "Okay then." Suddenly a thought hit him. "How come I can't feel you then if we've already bonded?"

Cas shrugged. "I am an angel," he said, as if that explained everything.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Right. As if I could forget." He chewed on his lower lip. "You ready?"

Cas moved to lay on the floor. "Yes, Dean."

Dean knelt above him and placed the paper with the sigils on the floor where he could easily see them. He took a deep breath and lowered the blade to Cas's chest. He carefully carved the first of the symbols into Cas's skin. As soon as he had finished, he heard a small sound of distress come from Cas's throat. He paused with the blade poised above the skin to make the next one. "You alright?"

"Keep going, Dean." Cas said tightly.

After the second symbol, Dean began feeling something. It wasn't uncomfortable, he wasn't feeling the pain that Cas obviously was, but there was a definite niggling sensation throughout his body.

He stopped what he was doing and looked at Cas's face. His angel had his eyes squeezed tightly shut and teeth clenched. God, he hated being the one to cause Cas pain. Guilt tried to settle over him, but he pushed it down firmly. Now was not the time. He cleared his throat. "Cas, am I supposed to be feeling something too?" He asked.

Cas opened one eye. "It's your soul bonding to my Grace. It is not hurting you because your soul is all still there. I am in pain because some of my Grace must die to make room for your soul. Please Dean, keep going."

Dean lowered the blade and continued. By the time he was finished, Cas was crying openly. He had begged Dean to stop several times, and Dean felt bile rise in his throat as he steadfastly ignored his angel's pleas. Finally, he was done. He threw the blade away as though it burned him and scrambled up to Cas's head. He ran his fingers through Cas's hair. "Hey, Cas, hey. It's over. All done, okay buddy? God, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Dean. This is something I want, I-" Cas's eyes flew open and he sat up with a gasp, making Dean scramble backwards.

"Cas?" Dean questioned worriedly. "What's- Your wings!" Pale blueish colored light framed each wing, and Dean watch in awe as beautiful new black feathers grew in place. New downy covered flesh covered the burnt scabs. Dean reached out to run his fingers through the newly healed wings. They were so soft. "Did you know this would happen?" he asked Cas.

Cas turned to him, a look of relief on his face. "No. I had hoped, but I didn't know. I feel incredible!"

"Everything else feels okay, then?" Dean asked. Cas nodded enthusiastically. "This is awesome!" Dean grinned. The remorse he had felt at being the cause of such pain for Cas melted away in the face of Cas's regained healing ability.

Cas bent down and picked up the discarded blade. He stared at it for a moment, then raised his eyes to meet Dean's. "Your turn," he said quietly.

Dean bit his lip, but didn't hesitate to pull off his shirt and lay down. If Cas could go through this just for him, then he would be damned if he showed any hesitation.

Cas poised himself over Dean. "Brace yourself." As he started carving, Dean winced. The first symbol wasn't too bad, until it was finished. Then Dean felt as though his very sense of _self_ was being ripped into shards. He gasped and tried to move away from the hurt, and felt Cas's hand gently but firmly hold him down. "I know it hurts, Dean, but you must stay still."

"Cas," he cried. After the next few symbols, he felt tears leak unbidden down from his eyes. His muscles trembled from the strain of keeping them still. What the hell was happening? Not even when the Hellhounds had come for him had he felt this kind of burning agony. At least then his sense of self had remained intact; now it felt like he was shattering into a thousand pieces.

Suddenly he felt something nudging its way in. His mind was too fragmented to immediately recognize what it was at first, then _Cas_. Cas's Grace. His mind opened wide and embraced the Grace. The Grace seemed to seep in and fill all the cracks left by his soul ripping. Slowly he began to come back to himself, away from the pain, but the essence of Cas remained right there with him. It was a strange but welcome feeling, as if a part of him that had always been missing was now whole. The pain was still there, but the more time passed the further away it went.

He opened his eyes that he never remembered closing and saw Cas's concerned blue eyes right above his own. "Cas." Fuck, was that really his voice? He sounded like he had been screaming himself hoarse, but he didn't remember screaming.

"Are you alright?" Cas asked as he helped him sit up. "It's over."

"I...Yeah. Fuck, Cas. That was intense." He put his head in his hands and shivered at the remembered pain. Then he realized he could feel Cas's worry. His head shot up and he stared at Cas. Slowly a grin split his face. "It worked. Cas, I feel you!" The worry began to dissipate as Cas realized the ritual worked, and affection came through after that. "This is incredible!"

Cas stood and stretched, his wings arcing high before shaking themselves back to lay comfortably along Cas's back. Dean stared. How he wished he had been able to see those gorgeous wings before! He felt the blood rushing to his cheeks as he looked at Cas. The angel turned to Dean, an impish smile crossing his features, feathers flaring. Dean groaned. Damned asshole was teasing him.

Finally, Cas stopped preening and turned serious. "Dean, we are connected now, but it is very important we spend some time together to get used to the bond. Let me take us somewhere more...special." He raised his hand to Dean and then with a flutter of newly healed wings, Dean looked around at the plush room in awe.

"Wow, Cas, where did you take us?" he asked.

"The Ritz-Carlton suite in L.A." The angel supplied. "Don't worry, we won't be disturbed."

Dean raised his eyebrow at Cas. "Sweet. This is awesome Ca-" Dean was cut off by Cas's mouth crashing into his own. He opened his mouth further and deepened the kiss.

When he finally pulled away he was breathing heavily. "Damn, Cas. For not having any experience at this you sure picked up kissing quick."

His angel grinned at him before pulling him over to the bed. "Dean, I have been alive for millennia. But I have never felt as happy as I do right now. Thank-you."

Dean swallowed and shifted uncomfortably. Because of the bond, he knew Cas was telling the truth, but he still had trouble seeing himself in such a positive light.

Cas didn't say anything, he didn't have to. Instead he focused his devotion to Dean through the bond. He took Dean's hand and settled them down on the bed together. Gradually, Dean let himself relax.

"Open yourself to the bond," Cas whispered in his ear. "Feel how happy you make me."

Dean did. A smile broke out on his face, and he basked in the feeling of Cas's happiness. Fuck, this was great. He settled deeper on the bed. He could get used to this. Maybe settle down…

Huh. Settle down. He would have never thought of it before, but now... with Cas? Maybe one day he could. He snorted inwardly. Yeah right. Not with douchebags like Raphael out there. But having Cas by his side would make things a little more bearable.

They lay there in silence, just enjoying the feeling of being together as one. No words were needed. After a while, Cas looked over at Dean. "Dean," he said. "We should get back to Sam and Bobby. I imagine they are wondering where we are by now."

Dean shifted and sat up. "Yeah. Mind if we grab the Impala? She's just at this bar."

"Of course." Cas lifted his wings and flew them back to the house, stopping to grab Dean's car. When they landed, Dean's eyes lit up when he saw his Baby beside him. He reverently ran his hands over the hood, crooning softly.

"Careful, Dean. You'll make Cas jealous, and I don't want a pissy angel around," said Bobby. Dean glanced up to where Sam and Bobby were sitting on the deck. He grinned. He was in a great mood.

"You're glowing," remarked Sam with a smirk.

Cas looked back and forth between them with a confused look on his face. "You can see his soul?" he asked with a frown.

Dean had a great idea. He knew just how to freak out his brother. He laughed and stepped over to Cas, clapping him on the back. "He's talking about the post-sex glow," he said loudly. "You know, because we just had wild, kinky m-"

"Dean!" Sam slapped his hands over his ears, at the same time Bobby turned beet red and started coughing loudly.

Dean laughed even harder, and even Cas slowly smiled before joining in. The amusement reaching him through the bond was infectious. Like a feedback loop of joy, they both began laughing harder.

Sam watched the two of them laughing and smiling, and slowly put his hands down and grinned. Dean and Cas were now laughing so hard they were bent over, and Dean had tears starting to leak out of his eyes. He beckoned Bobby over with his hand. "Can I stay in your room tonight?"

Bobby nodded. He looked at the two on the ground and scratched the back of his neck. "That's probably a good idea," he said. After a moment he added, "been a while since I seen your brother laugh like that."

"Too long." Sam watched their laughter slowly die down to occasional trickles. "But you know what, Bobby? I think we might make it now."

"Make it? Make it where, Sam?"

Sam shrugged. "Wherever we want." He stood and headed inside, and after a moments consideration and a thoughtful look at Sam's back, Bobby stood up to follow.

On the gravel of the driveway, Dean and Castiel's laughter had finally died down. Dean closed his eyes and felt himself relax. His angel's wings came up and wrapped him in a comforting embrace, and Dean knew, as he felt Cas's Grace mingling with his own soul, that he would never be alone again. And that was the best feeling in the world. 


End file.
